MARCH : Pete Markey, Boots UK CMO and ISBA President on the fundamentals we know and love...
From this month, Front of Mind will occasionally have conversations with the best in the business. Ones who know and respect the fundamentals. March with Markey, what a starting point!
Hello everyone! Before we get into the new financial year and regular thoughts on marketing fundamentals, I wanted to start bringing in other perspectives into Front of Mind. I can share my own experiences and talk about fundamentals all day. But I thought to myself : wouldn’t it be great to get, just now and then, leading marketeers and operators to give us their real-world insights on developing their marketing careers and experiencing different parts of the process?
With that in mind, I had to start with a guy who is basically an industry celebrity. Not to mention a big supporter and advisor for me in my marketing and consultancy journey, nor his generous forewording of my Back to Basics book released in 2021. A man who respects the craft, the 4Ps, the marketing process and fundamentals to ultimately achieve great work. Listening to him on stage at MadFest in Manchester speaking about the challenges of stewarding a heritage brand in a changing world really spurred on this chat. Also, I just thought March with Markey had a ring to it. It was an honour to catch up with him again last week, and I think you Front of Mind readers can get so much out of what he has to say!
For clarity ‘SA’ is me (Simon Akers) and ‘PM’ is Pete Markey and not Prime Minister (though I wouldn’t be surprised to see it tbh)
Who is Pete Markey? (Pete’s official Bio and comprehensive blurb is difficult to top/make any more pithy)
Pete Markey is Chief Marketing Officer for Boots where he is responsible for brand and marketing for the UK and ROI. Pete is also the Exec Sponsor for Marketing for Change and the Boots Pride BRG network as well as co-Exec sponsor for the Boots/Macmillan partnership. Pete has previously held senior leadership roles at TSB, Aviva, Post Office, RSA and MORE TH>N with his early career at One.Tel, the AA and British Gas. He has experience of working across a range of disciplines including marketing, sales, digital, data & analytics, customer experience, operations and strategy. Pete has been awarded five prestigious Marketer of the Year awards and is a Fellow of the Marketing Society and the Chartered Institute of Marketing. Pete is very active in the marketing industry and is President at ISBA and Chair of the Advertising Association’s Front Foot initiative. He has regularly featured in the “Hall of Fame” in the Campaign Power 100 and the Marketing Week Top 100 most effective marketing leaders. Pete has been recognised for his extensive work on diversity and inclusion winning both the Diversity Ally award at the European Diversity Awards in 2019 and the Corporate Ally award at the Rainbow Honours Awards in 2022. In 2024 Pete was made an Honorary Doctor of Business by Solent University in recognition of his contribution to the university, the industry and DE&I. He is also a mentor for The Marketing Academy and The Marketing Society.
SA : Wow. So who actually is Pete Markey then?
PM : I hope more than anything I’ll be remembered most as a positive agent of change who made things better. I’m a firm believer that we all have one life and a unique set of gifts and my hope is that Pete Markey is remembered as someone who used those gifts well. My 24 year old son James jokingly or lovingly calls me a “legend” so maybe be remembered for that too!
SA : Legend! So when did you start in marketing and what were you doing?
PM : I did a degree in Corporate Communications at Solent University in which we covered marketing and international marketing but my passion at the time was PR and journalism. It took for me to secure a first job after university in nearby British Gas in customer services for me to find an eventual way into marketing by successfully getting a role as a Marketing Analyst in their head office. It was great though starting my career in customer services and sales before moving into marketing as it gave me a really good grounding in what makes a great brand – really delivering consistently for your customers every single time.
SA : Agree with that. understanding customers is a real 101. So re: such fundamentals and evergreen principles - What are the things that have stayed with you since your first marketing role that you think about to this day?
PM : Marketing has changed so much since I started my career in the 1990’s in terms of the tools and techniques now available but the core principles of great marketing have for me remained the same. It’s about knowing your purpose, what makes you distinct and different as a brand and the unique role you play or can play in customers’ lives. It’s then about remaining highly relevant by listening to your customers, watching the market at all time and constantly delivering what your customers want and need when they need it most. And all of that backed up by brilliant and positively disruptive creative and targeting.
SA : And what’s been the biggest change for you in your (basically) 30 years do you think?
PM : Definitely the growth in the number of channels particularly as digital and social media have become such an important part of all our lives. What this has opened up though is a number of channels where you can measure and monitor results instantly and change and evolve creative and targeting in real time to optimise the best results – all of which I could only have dreamt of when I started my career. The challenges all of this brings though is know what channels are doing what and how channels work with other channels to deliver a result. We’ve done extensive work on this at Boots around our own effectiveness but its also why as ISBA President I am so excited about the Origin project which seeks to further improve our measurement capability as an industry.
SA : Definitely agree, have written a lot here over last 3 years along the lines of ‘just because you can measure it, doesn’t mean it matters’ The tail can wag the dog if you are not careful. But having a decision on measurement wherever you are is key.
On that note, Boots is quite a shift from your financial services and utilities background, but I argue that there are fundamentals you can apply for marketing excellence regardless of sector difference. What are your thoughts on that and what has been consistent across the sectors?
PM : I’ve loved being able to take various learnings from sector to sector and I think fundamentally if you are a skilled marketer its possible to transition and work in any sector regardless of your previous experience or not. I’d never worked in telco, insurance or retail before I joined key brands in those areas and have loved every minute of being able to drive hard working marketing campaigns for those brands whilst learning as I go. The key consistency has been about brand purpose consistently delivered in everything you do as a business demonstrating clearly the role you play today in customers’ lives and great creative and timely targeting to bring it all to life!
“I think fundamentally if you are a skilled marketer its possible to transition and work in any sector regardless of your previous experience or not.”
SA : And what’s been different/biggest challenge for your own personal development?
PM : The biggest transition for me outside of moving between sectors has been the move into an executive leadership role. You move from needing to be purely a subject matter expert for your area into needing to have a broader leadership role where you take as much interest in whats going on in the wider business like HR and IT and supporting and challenging colleagues in those areas to help drive the whole business forward.
SA : In the current marketing world. What do you think has been a bit forgotten/neglected that you think holds weight still, and could get more love today?
PM : I worry that in the pursuit of performance marketing mainly through digital channels like paid search and social media that the focus on having a clear brand purpose and living and breathing it is being forgotten for the sake of short term sales gains. I also worry that channels like TV become under appreciated in this world despite them being hugely significant and impactful still in the role they play in the marketing mix especially in key seasons like Christmas.
SA : We talk about the 4Ps. And agree with your point you made in Manchester about something that if merely sits in promo (e,g. purpose) it will fail; have you got an example of how marketing has truly impacted the 4 Ps?
PM : For me marketing is at its best when it connects the business up around a core purpose aligned to the business strategy. Marketing helps the organisation plan around delivering its purpose through comms/storytelling, products/services, environment/channels and people/culture all focused on driving sustainable business growth. Its what we have done in Boots around our purpose to be “With You. For Life” and a key part of what’s helped us drive over 14 quarters of consecutive growth.
SA : I’ve enjoyed your words before (less so the challenge itself) on the relationships between marketing and finance. What is your top tip(s) when speaking to CFOs re: budget investments?
PM : Key is agreeing a common language and set of metrics to the finance and marketing team are aligned and agree on how to measure return on investment and run an “open book” approach in marketing where you are always open to being asked questions about activity you are running and the role it plays. Key is to build trust and be seen as good stewards of the company’s money such that marketing is seen (as it should be) as an investment and not a cost.
SA : Finally, I’m a student or budding marketing executive looking progress my development, what is your biggest advice or practical takeaway?
PM : Find your super power and what makes you uniquely you and use that to be a force for good in this industry and beyond.
SA : Thanks so much Pete
Really enjoyed that one, from a guy who has been there and done a lot of it. And when he talks about purpose it isn’t a vapid promo level trend it is about a coherent brand position, some great food for thought on that one!
There are more of these to come, of course if there is anyone you think must be featured here on Front of Mind, please do let me know.
Back to me I’m afraid in April, speak then!
SA
P.S. I really hope you are getting a semblance of value (and FUN) out of this. If so, and you think any other marketer or business owner would, feel free to share/forward this to them. Also, follow me on LinkedIn, personally or on my company page. If you want to discuss anything, you need some marketing advice, or you just want to discuss something I’ve said, drop me a line. Thanks and happy reading/marketing!