As we rapidly head to the end of 2024, I thought it appropriate to reflect on the progress that the AMI has achieved this past year.

The key focus of the Board and Management during 2024 has been on evolving the growth strategy for the AMI. Under the stewardship of our CEO, Bronwyn Heys, we have continued to deliver against our strategic imperatives.  At the heart of everything we do, is our commitment to supporting career growth and igniting brilliance within our members.

Over the past year, the AMI had many key achievements. In short:

• The launch of the AMI Competencies Framework – a comprehensive guide to help career marketers at every stage of their career path. This is the keystone of our member value proposition (for more information, please go to the AMI website)
• Greater engagement with corporates around future-focused marketing competencies ensuring AMI remains at the forefront of industry evolution. Corporate membership continued to grow over the past year, with 67 corporate members coming on board.
• A refreshed and fully updated website making it easier for members (and non-members alike) to a interact and engage with the AMI
• Refreshed corporate branding and livery developed in partnership with leading brand agency Hulsbosch (as an aside, the re-branding earned Hulsbosch a silver award at the 2024 transform awards ANZ for Best Visual Identity, Professional Services).
• Update our social communications and made our member communications more engaging and relevant.
• This year saw the return of our popular webinar series, offering relevant and timely topics like career planning and AI’s transformation of marketing.
• A refresh of our masterclasses and new partnerships with 3^rd party training providers – catering to all levels of marketing proficiency.
• Our events in every state were back in full swing with new, energised State Committees in place.
• We rejuvenated our Certified Practicing Marketer (CPM) program – with plans to place an even greater focus on continuing professional development in 2025. The number of CPM’s increased over the year reflecting the ongoing desire of many of our members for professional certification.
• Our Emerging Marketers Program continued to grow in popularity. Feedback from both mentors and mentees has been extremely positive and this program continues to grow as one of the AMI’s key assets.
• Our focus on Tertiary Accreditation and corporate sector endorsement extended during the year. We now have more than 40 courses accredited from 18 universities across Australia with vocational endorsement, as well as 2 large corporate training program endorsements – with more to follow!
• Media coverage of the AMI grew exponentially with greater media presence – we are out there in the market with a constant stream of articles, podcast, interviews and speaking engagements. We also delivered a range of thought leadership through the expert curation of articles in the AMI’s monthly newsletter – The Australian Marketer – and our Marketing Voice blog and the AMI content library. And our social media following continued to increase.
• The 2024 Marketing Excellence Awards gala was held in October, where award recipients were recognised in front of a full house at Melbourne’s Zinc. The Awards continue to recognise and elevate marketing excellence. An important aspect of the AMI awards is that they are about ‘marketers’ as opposed to ‘marketing’ (there is a subtle difference!).

With all that, it’s time to take a deep breath!

It would be remiss of me not to mention that all of these achievements were delivered by our small but very hard-working AMI team lead by our CEO Bronwyn Heys.

Looking ahead to next year. It will be another huge year for the AMI. Here’s a sneak peak of what’s in store:

• In early 2025, we will be launching an online professional competency assessment tool for members. This is a world-class platform that helps members stay ahead of the career curve.
• Enhancement of our professional development program aimed at meeting the needs of our members across every stage of their career
• Ensuring our member benefits meet our member needs – both individual and corporate.

All of us at the AMI know that members are our lifeblood and without our members there would be no AMI.

In the past few years, we have transformed the AMI based on our insights and understanding of our member’s needs. I sincerely believe that 2025 will see the AMI take another significant step forward – so please come with us as we continue this exciting journey.

On that note, I’d like to take the opportunity to wish all of our members and their loved ones all the very best for a safe and happy Festive Season.  See you in 2025!