Circus Street holds very first Advisory Board

We are very excited to announce the inaugural meeting of the Circus Street Advisory Board.

As Circus Street continues its global expansion, and as our client base continues to grow and diversify, it is imperative that we continue to deliver the very best learning experience possible for our clients, partners and learners. To do that, we have set up an Advisory Board; a panel of industry experts, made up of our faculty and key clients. The Board will meet on a regular basis to discuss the topics keeping the marketing industry up at night - and those topics they’re most excited about - to ensure we continue to meet industry needs and give our learners the most up-to-date and relevant learnings from the industry. 

Advisory Board members

We were joined by senior members of digital and capability teams from global brands and agencies, as well as a few of our Faculty. Board members at this first meeting included:

Sarah Hills, Director of Learning Wholesale at Adidas; Jonathan Salem Baskin, Circus Street Faculty and President of Arcadia Communications Lab; Ekaterina Kharitonova, Global Digital Excellence at Bayer; Marianne Evans-Schoenauer, Jacobine Lotgering, Head of Global Marketing Capabilities at Heineken; Emer Brady, Global Digital Capability Director at Mars; Jo Davey, Circus Street Faculty and Director at Mindfulness Marketing; Jeff Hyams, Chief Digital Officer, Global Solutions at Wavemaker EMEA; Fadi Shuman, Global Chief Digital & Ecommerce Officer at Geometry.

Circus Street will host Advisory Board meetings on a quarterly basis, with each one covering a specific topic area. Our first meeting took place in October at The Club at The Ivy in London, and up for discussion were the ‘Business Challenges and Opportunities for 2019’.

What were those challenges and opportunities?

Interestingly, and perhaps to the surprise of a few of our guests, a lot of the challenges shared had been experienced by many around the table. We’ll be exploring some of these in more detail in future blogs, but for now, here are the top 5 challenges and opportunities that our Board members agreed would be key moving forward in 2019.

Embracing Digital

It quickly became clear that many people, across departments and industries, still see digital as an “add-on” and are often anxious about using it in their working lives. But the truth is that digital is powering everything we do and it’s only going to get bigger, so we need to work on removing silos and getting rid of the overwhelm.

eCommerce

eCommerce is seen as one of the biggest opportunities for many retailers, but it’s also one of the biggest challenges. From understanding global differences to working with third partners, keeping up with this fast-moving online world can be tough.

Globalisation

The world isn’t getting smaller, so many businesses are finding ways to expand their global reach further and further. But that poses its own set of challenges - how can you ensure an engaged workforce with everyone on the same page, if you’re dealing with multiple languages, regions and behaviours?

Integrating and Implementing Learning

We love that education is such a vital part of many of today’s businesses - otherwise you wouldn’t be here! But sometimes knowing how to apply those learnings to everyday life, or to that looming Board meeting can be tricky.

Developing a Learning Culture

One of the biggest challenges with education in the workplace is the question: ‘how do you get people to want to learn?’ Well, a lot of that can come from the company culture. Whether it’s adding a competitive element through team learning, putting on ‘lunch and learn’ sessions or having a Topic of the Month, there are some great ways of getting staff involved and engaged with their own learning.

We’ll be expanding on many of these points in future posts right here on the Circus Street blog, so keep your eyes peeled for more from our Advisory Board.