Telstra's chief marketing officer Mark Buckman will stare down his critics and face a "no holds barred" question and answer session expected to provoke fierce industry debate as part of his keynote session to the annual Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA) Congress this week.
Buckman expects to field controversial questions around some of the decisions he made at the Commonwealth Bank and in his new role at Telstra. He will also shoot off a few of his own gripes about the industry’s “obsession” with negativity and “bringing itself down”, rather than promoting itself.
“It’s a bit unorthodox but who am I to guess what people really want to hear about?” Buckman told AdNews. “I’ll take whatever comes, as long as questions don’t deal with matters under legal privilege or involve confidential financial matters. The marketing industry is the only industry where this negativity and criticism of itself really happens. Pot shots are taken by armchair critics and twilight commentators at the large commercial decisions many of us make.”
Questions can be sent in advance via Twitter to #AANACongress2012.
It will be Buckman’s first major industry address since taking on his role at Telstra last year.
Buckman’s replacement as Commonwealth Bank chief marketing officer, Andy Lark, will also participate in the event this Thursday in Sydney along with KFC’s chief marketing officer Nikki Lawson, Lion’s brand director Jon Bradshaw, Goodman Fielder’s marketing director, Freshbake, John Broome, and Suncorp-Metway executive general manager, group marketing, Mark Reinke.
AANA chief executive Scott McClellan said attendance at the AANA Congress was capped at 100 delegates to ensure every delegate “has a voice”.
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