CIMG most prestigious business award in Ghana
The Chartered Institute of Marketing Ghana (CIMG) has held the 32nd National Marketing Performance Awards which brought together captains of industry and leaders of the Ghanaian business community.
The CIMG awards are designed to create awareness of the marketing concept in businesses and sustainability and to promote high professional standards and excellence among practitioners.
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The Daily Graphic took the oppportunity to interview the organisers of the awards and below are excepts.
Que: Tell us what differentiates CIMG Awards from other Awards in Ghana
Ans: The credibility and transparency with which CIMG Awards is organised sets us apart.
From nominations through to the awards ceremony itself, there are checks and balances to make sure no one is being cheated.
The checks and balances include Focus Group sessions, a panel to filter nominations and the governing council to approve final award winners based on the final results.
It is important to state that even after the awards ceremony, awards can be withdrawn from the winners should anything untoward happens to any company or individual.
This adds to the credibility that other awards in Ghana do not have.
Que: How has CIMG contributed to knowledge base of marketing practitioners in Ghana over the past years
Ans: CIMG started an executive school that taught marketing back then.
The institute went on to establish the Ghana School of Marketing and CIMG Consult to provide training for businesses.
CIMG also has the ‘Evening with’ programmes etc, which involves knowledge sharing on selected topics in a conversation by industry hotshots.
Going forward, we will be doing more webinars.
Que: Pls share your success stories with us and why should people be motivated to be associated with CIMG
Ans: Since its inception, the Institute has been able to carve a positive image through effective contribution towards the creation of marketing awareness and the training of students and businessmen in marketing concepts and practices.
The Institute now has AN ACT which establishes the Chartered Institute of Marketing, Ghana as a regulatory body to set standards in the marketing profession and to regulate the marketing practice in Ghana.
The One Thousand And Twenty-First Act Of The Parliament Of The Republic Of Ghana, Entitled Chartered Institute Of Marketing, Ghana Act, 2020 PASSED by Parliament and assented to by the President on August 13, 2020.
On April 29, 2021, CIMG then launched its Professional Marketing Qualifications.
Que: What is the impact of Marketing on the Ghanaian economy
Ans: Marketing has helped shift the economy from a seller’s market to a buyer’s market, where the customer is ultimately the focus of all business activities.
Companies have now become marketing-oriented along the lines of customer orientation, profitability and sustainability, good organisational culture, identity and interdisciplinary cooperation in organisation.
The competitive nature of the CIMG Awards has contributed to that paradigm shift.
Que: What is the process of selecting winners.
Ans: The Governing Council of the CIMG, in collaboration with stakeholders such as AGI, GNCCI, MOTI, National Insurance Commission, Ghana Association of Bankers, Research Institution(s), etc., play an active role to enhance the selection process.
The process involves an elaborate procedure as follows:
Nominations are invited from the public through advertisement in the dailies.
The nominees are verified, and the companies or personalities are served with questionnaires that are designed to elicit information from the nominee, according to set criteria based on various groupings like Personality, Business, Media/Marketing Communications, etc.
Panels are formed for each of the award groupings to assess the responses and score them online. Membership of the panels cuts across corporate Ghana, but deliberate effort are made to constitute the various panels with those who are knowledgeable in the task or groupings they belong to.
However, the groupings are formed based on 60 per cent technical persons and 40 per cent non-technical persons but competent to work on the submissions. Depending on the category, we have persons drawn from ICAG, CIB, AGI, AAG, GIBA, Disability Society, MUSIGA, Insurance Brokers, Parliamentary Service Board, etc.
The findings (scores) of the panellists are collated by the research organisations that work with the CIMG.
(This year, Maverick Research and Media Monitoring Services worked with the CIMG)
In order that the results are marketing oriented, weighting is applied to the scored criteria with areas like CSR, Innovation, consumer insight and visibility having higher weighting scores.
After applying the weight, the research organisation declares the final scores to the Governing Council which deliberates on it and confirms the final placement for each category.
The collated results are subjected to a pre-determined weighting and the results are, at this stage, used to rank and shortlist the nominees to three (3).
These results are then submitted to an eighteen (18) member CIMG Governing Council that critically examine the procedures used in assessment to make sure that the winners are selected according to set criteria and professional marketing principles and standards.
The decision of the Governing Council becomes the final result for awarding the winners.
Council selects award winners based on careful analysis of available background information.
Que: In what ways can CIMG help Ghanaian businesses/firms to take advantage of AfCFTA
Ans: Firstly, for Ghana to fully benefit from this expanded market, we need to reposition Ghana from its current economic and social state by providing more educated workforce with emphasis on technical training, entrepreneurial and business management skills including marketing and basic accounting.
CIMG will continue developing the skills of business operators in Ghana to adopt professional marketing approach in all their operations, given the diversity of the habits and attitudes of consumers in the expanded market.
Que: What is the future of the CIMG and the practice of marketing in Ghana.
Ans: The CIMG has begun the Customer Satisfaction Index research, with the banking industry being the first.
As announced earlier, we will continue by researching other industries in the future.
We will be conducting this and other marketing research for the economy of Ghana.
We have also developed a seven-point agenda to work towards going forward:
Strengthen the advocacy role of the CIMG to promote and influence government policy on marketing related matters, particularly those on consumerism and consumer rights and forge stronger partnerships & collaborations with the media and relevant public and private sector agencies, including international bodies, for cost-effective execution of agreed programmes.
It will intensify education and whip up membership drive to improve retention and loyalty for members while encouraging marketing students in all public and private institutions to see the CIMG as an aspirational professional body.
We will start this by building branches at the regional levels, using structures at the Marketing Departments of existing public universities, particularly technical universities.
CIMG will generate and sustain interest and excitement of the general public in the marketing profession through content marketing and thought leadership programmes, digitisation of marketing projects will be key to us, and we need to accordingly encourage the older generation of marketers to adapt quickly to newer trends, particularly in today’s world of ICT.
Introduce reforms that will transform the CIMG secretariat to operate as a modern-day professional body comparable to its peers elsewhere around the globe by leveraging technology and will pursue relevant UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to attract global attention to what we do here in Ghana.
Some SDGs that come to mind immediately are: SDG 3: Good health and well-being; SDG 4: Quality education; SDG 5: Gender equality; SDG 10: Reduced inequality; SDG 11: Sustainable cities and communities; SDG 12: Responsible consumption and production and SDG 17: Partnerships to achieve a goal.
For the practice of marketing in Ghana, the CIMG will continue to strengthen the legs of marketing practice from Marketing Research & Insights, New Product Development & Pricing Issues, Channel Management, Marketing Communications, Sales, Branding and Customer Service & CSR for businesses to deliver more than they have in the past.
Que: Tell us about your forty years anniversary and plans towards Golden Jubilee
Ans: The forty years anniversary was launched together with the 32nd CIMG Annual National Marketing Performance Awards, on July 6, 2021.
We unveiled our anniversary cloth which has been well received by all members and affiliates of the institute. We will be organising some webinars & ‘Evening With’ series, health walk on farmer’s day and a church service to crown it all.
We have plans to own an ultra-modern building with state-of-the-art equipment within the hub of education in Legon.
We have paid a courtesy call to the Chancellor of the University of Ghana regarding acquisition of the land.
CIMG is on course to be the first point of call for marketing research data, as we sanitise the regulatory environment of marketing practice.
By then, our Legal Instrument will be in full force.
