2023 is promising to be a very exciting year for the marketing team at ANZ. It feels like it’s begun at a cracking pace (we’re nearly through February already?!) and we have much more in store to work with our team on.

It is with this in mind that we have embraced AMI’s Igniting Brilliance in 2023. The idea to support, nurture and grow brilliance directly aligns with our goals for ANZ’s team of marketers. Many things are changing in 2023, but investing in our staff and supporting them to be the best-equipped marketers they can be will not change.

There are four pillars to AMI’s plans to ignite brilliance; connections, career pathways, curated content and community. Together, they seek to elevate the skills of marketers and professional status of marketers through CPM accreditation. I’d love to focus on the first two points here, connections and career pathways.

The Emerging Marketers Program (EMP) connects established and developing marketers to mutually benefit through a mentoring relationship. This is something ANZ is co-sponsoring (for the second year) in 2023 and we’re proud to see our marketers involved in both the mentoring and mentee side of the program.

Everyone involved in this program will have the opportunity to learn. I’m certain plenty of the mentees will be able to share insights into digital marketing and other developing fields, while the mentors will have years of experience and knowledge to draw on and share. The marketers just starting their careers will be leading the industry in the future, and it is important we support them in building their knowledge.

The opportunity to grow leadership skills within our team is a consistent goal for ANZ. The skills and tactics of marketers are evolving fast and our developing leaders need to continue to work on their skill set to meet these demands. The AMI Step Up Leadership Program Presented by the First 100 is something we are strongly supporting and look forward to seeing ANZ marketers involved in the program.

The second pillar, career pathways, is extremely relatable for us at ANZ. Mapping out your goals for the coming years will help you to envisage the skills and tools you need to succeed. This is what we at ANZ have worked towards with our Brand Academy and Marketing Masters programs. The self-assessment and career planning have supported our marketers to work on the skills they need to be leading marketers and in 2023 we’re excited to further expand career planning as part of the ANZ Marketing Masters program offerings.

The CPM accreditation AMI has developed is something that ANZ believes to be highly valuable. We are proud that 45 of our marketers achieved CPM accreditation in 2022 and look forward to seeing more of our staff secure this in 2023. This is an important way to support credibility and skill recognition in our industry.

Holding internal training courses for our marketing staff endorsed and aligned with AMI has been critical to providing job-relevant and industry-recognised training. Seeing any marketer with AMI-endorsed courses on their CV is an excellent way to identify that the marketer has been committed to working on their career development.

The range of courses available to marketers to grow their skills is ever-expanding. ANZ is looking forward to having a further two courses endorsed and recognised by AMI in 2023. Over 900 digital credentials have been awarded to our marketers in the past three years. We’re excited to shoot past 1,000 credentials in the first half of this year, recognising our marketing team’s seemingly insatiable desire to learn and develop.

The importance of upskilling and re-skilling can’t be understated in 2023. The tools and tactics for marketers to personalise marketing continue to evolve quickly. Ensuring we have the best opportunities to develop these skills remains vital. This sits at the core for organisations to ignite brilliance in 2023 and beyond.

Contributed by Sera McNeill, Senior Marketing Manager, Customer Centricity and Capability