Marketing Society dinner provides opportunity to recognise achievements in last difficult year - Graeme Atha

The Marketing Society is planning our first major in-person event in two years at The Sheraton Hotel, Edinburgh on November 25. The St Andrew’s Day Dinner will see the marketing community in Scotland come back together to re-connect, collaborate and celebrate.

Sir Geoff Palmer was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of The Marketing Society last year.

The evening will be hosted by Sophie Devonshire, CEO of The Marketing Society, who will reflect on another successful year for the Society with ever growing membership worldwide and increased engagement with our virtual events from across the globe.

Going forward we understand that our members want a combination of both virtual and physical events. The enthusiasm to attend our end of year dinner is clear evidence of this.

Fiona Burton, Client Partner at The Leith Agency, and Chair of The Marketing Society Scotland will cover a few of the exciting projects she has led over the last two years. This includes a variety of initiatives with a focus on equality, diversity and inclusion.

Graeme Atha, Director, The Marketing Society

These include a campaign to encourage people from all backgrounds to consider a career in marketing as well as a programme to support the hospitality sector as it emerges from the pandemic.

This will be Fiona’s final official duty as Chair before handing over that role to Rod Gillies from Whyte & Mackay.

We use this occasion to announce Marketing Society Fellowships which are awarded to leading members in our industry who have made a significant contribution to our goals.

We also award Honorary Fellowships to inspirational figures from other industries who have demonstrated marketing excellence and supported some of our initiatives.

Last year we awarded an Honorary Fellowship to Sir Geoff Palmer the human rights activist, first black professor in Scotland and now Chancellor of Heriot Watt University. Sir Geoff was heavily involved in our Aspiring Creative Star award this year where students responded to a brief challenging them to consider what should be done with the statues, street names and buildings in Scotland associated with the slave trade.

This year we will award the following Fellowships;

Honorary Fellows

Amar Latif – Founder of Traveleyes, entrepreneur and TV presenter.; Allan Scott – Scottish businessmen and co-writer of The Queen’s Gambit

Fellows

Kirsteen Beeston – Head of International Malts, Whyte & Mackay; David Craik – Managing Director, Bright Signals; Simon Crunden – Managing Director, Republic of Media; Nicola Thomson – Global Marketing Capability Lead, Edrington; Jill Walker – Head of Marketing , Scottish Government

The other awards presented on the night are for the Employer Brands of the Year. Working with Denholm Associates these awards recognise organisations who use their marketing skills to attract and retain talent.

These are the shortlists for these awards.

Client Employer Brand of the Year

DC Thomson; Diageo; Edrington; Edrington UK; FreeAgent; Royal London

Agency Employer Brand of the Year

Carat Edinburgh; Material; Muckle Media; Stripe Communications; Studio LR; Sunshine Communications

Another theme explored at this event will be collaboration.

Jaume Ferras, Creative Director at The Macallan will share some insights on the various partnerships they have developed recently including the legendary graphic designer David Carson, iconic artist Peter Blake and the classic car brand, Bentley.

We will also hear from The Macallan Master Whisky Maker, Kirsteen Campbell on the collaboration process involved in creating their remarkable liquid.

The entertainment for the evening is a showcase of some exciting emerging talent from the music scene in Scotland. Singer songwriter Joshua Grant from Edinburgh and Cara Rose from Glasgow.

Our St Andrew’s Day Dinner provides an opportunity for our marketing community to recognise some of the achievements in the last difficult year whilst looking forward with optimism to the year ahead.

Details of the St Andrew’s Day Dinner can be found here https://www.marketingsociety.com/event/st-andrews-day-dinner-20

Graeme Atha, Director of The Marketing Society