October 3, 2017
The first Chief Marketing Officer Summit at the University of South Carolina is coming to the Darla Moore School of Business on Thursday, Oct. 5. The CMO summit, sponsored by Forbes, brings seven USC alumni — five of whom graduated from the Moore School — back to campus during American Marketing Association’s (AMA) Marketing Week to head up panels, network with students and pass on their wisdom from experience in the marketing world.
The event is open to all USC students as long as they sign up ahead of time, and students can register for just a portion of the event as their schedules permit.
Moore School Center for Marketing Solutions Director Jeff Rehling hopes that as many students will take advantage of this unique opportunity as possible.
“There is a part of the business world that you can’t get out of a textbook,” Rehling says. “You have to live it, you have to hear it, you have to experience it. These types of events help achieve that objective of giving our students both that insight into the reality of things along with the foundation academically to solve problems and ultimately drive a business to be successful.”
The CMO Summit features three keynote speakers, each followed by a panel discussion. Terrance Williams, CMO and president of Emerging Business at Nationwide Insurance, will discuss the connection between marketing and innovation; Tim Oakhill, worldwide marketing strategist and subject matter expert at IBM, will talk on marketing and technology; and Tom Daly, previous senior group director of global marketing at Coca-Cola, will share insights on marketing and new media.
Jessica Ormand, a senior global supply chain and operations management and marketing student and president of USC’s AMA student chapter, hopes to hear about how rising trends are affecting innovation in the marketing world and what she can expect going into the job market.
“Events like this are important for students because it provides a ton of exposure that you would not get otherwise,” Ormand says. “You get to take the content that you are learning in your classes and see how it applies to the real world.”
Brennan Dobbins, an International MBA candidate, says he is most interested to learn how such big-name companies are evolving with the change of technology.
“New technologies like virtual reality, augmented reality and Blockchain are shaping how marketing teams need to strategize and execute their plans in so many different industries today,” Dobbins says. “I'm hoping to hear about how these companies are embracing developing trends in technology in their consumer learnings and then turning that learning around to maximize the customer experience accordingly.”
More informal networking and visiting will take place Friday as the guest speakers’ time allows. All in all, the CMO Summit fills a need that was missing in the marketing conversation at the Moore School and USC as a whole.
Rehling is excited to see how the event unfolds and hopes to continue hosting it each year.
“I think any time we can give students a glimpse into the reality of marketing, it’s a good thing,” he says. “It’ll better prepare them not only for getting started in a job, but also I think for interviewing and being successful when they get started and being able to hit the ground running and know what they’re walking into.”
By Madeleine Vath