June 2006
One of the ironies of marketing is that marketers, drawn to a profession that is very ‘people focused’, can end up being somewhat isolated in their roles. The colleagues that marketers deal with on a daily basis are seldom other marketers – more likely, they’ll be finance staff, print brokers, operations staff or web developers. On a good day they’ll deal with the advertising agency, who (in an ideal world) share their vision and values. But a bad day can be such that it seems the old days of marketing being misunderstood and undervalued never went away.
As a result, entering and building professional networks can be a challenge for the consumer-oriented marketer – after all, almost everyone outside the company that a marketer deals with will be a supplier, not another marketer of equal status. In addition, many networking events are now so overtly oriented around gaining sales leads that gaining contacts, advice and gossip for the sake of “being connected” can seem old hat.
The best events, particularly in the main centres, are run by the Marketing Association on a regular basis, but are still ticketed dine-and-listen affairs that can be great for meeting old contacts but harder if you’re new to the scene. Beyond this, the events are often clearly differentiated for specific groups, such as small businesses, businesswomen, young marketers and senior marketers.
As such, it can be equally difficult for those serving marketers in their line of business – how to network with those who aren’t especially likely to be out networking themselves? This is where business professionals have to think outside the square. It’s no news that long lunches and heavy drinking have become passé, but their replacement, whilst possibly surprising, is no news to those in the know. For senior business professionals, including but not limited to marketers, personal fitness is the new arena for networking.
However, despite being the hotbed of business mover and shakers, using Auckland’s BodyTech gym is not a recommended way to meet such people, whose private workout time is not the appropriate venue for discussing agency reviews and media buys.
Instead, it’s become clear over recent years that cycling has become the exclusive clique of senior businesspeople. The streets and rural roads of Auckland are awash with fast-growing packs of business professionals in their 30s, 40s and 50s riding $10,000 bikes, meeting like a secret society for pre-dawn weekday rides, and spending their Sunday mornings riding 100km or more, followed by the obligatory coffee stop. What’s more, cycling is one of the few sports where conversation can be happily maintained throughout the course of a training ride, making for all manner of deals being discussed. Newcomers are welcome, as long as their fitness and cycling etiquette is up to scratch.
This state of affairs may not appear fair for those averse to cycling, but most networking formats are limited in some way – and at least cycling is better for the body!
Jonathan Dodd