Intervju med European Marketing Confederation (EMC)
Ralf you’re working at EMC, what kind of Confederation is that?
European Marketing Confederation (EMC) is a not-for-profit organization based in Brussels. EMC works with its members across Europe such as the UK, Ireland, Lithuania, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Spain, Portugal or the Netherlands, to share best practice in marketing, sales and communication. In this vein, EMC is one of Europe’s largest marketing membership organizations, representing marketing, sales and communication associations across Europe, and beyond. All-in-all, EMC reaches via its national bodies ca. 80,000 marketing professionals across Europe. EMC works with marketing member associations across Europe, to share best practice in marketing, sales and communication, monitoring the latest developments in the profession, and helping marketers to expand their networks. Current projects include
- The yearly European Marketing Agenda
- Professional Certification and Standardization across Europe
- Senior Marketing Professional as title
- Exchange of best practices in sponsoring for the national marketing associations
- Best practices in membership recruiting and retention
- Best practices in marketing events
- The European Marketer of The Year Award
- A joint Marketing Competencies Framework
- As well as the European Marketing Day
E.g. the European Marketing Confederation Qualification and Certification Framework (EMCQ) gives marketers the opportunity to achieve accredited qualifications that are recognized throughout Europe.
Can you describe what you’re doing on a daily basis at EMC?
I do have the pleasure and honor to have been elected as the Chairman of the Board for the last 4 years, after having been the president of the German Marketing Association for more than 10 years. While we do have 2 colleagues working for us on a temporary basis, my work is entirely honorary work, this means for me that I am spending my private time with EMC for some hours / week in order to push projects across Europe … hand-in-hand with other marketing enthusiasts across different countries.
The Swedish Marketing Federation’s CEO Francesca O’Brien is engaged in EMC; which more countries participate?
We have the pleasure to have the UK, Ireland, Lithuania, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Spain, Portugal or the Netherlands as part of EMC. Other countries such as Greece, Denmark, Belgium, or Slovenia are in consideration to join or re-join. We’re happy to have Francesca and The Swedish Marketing Federation with us.
When all countries meet, what do you discuss? What is on the agenda for marketers right now?
Summing up the feedback from the European Marketing Agenda 2024, there are top issues on the list of marketing professionals such as Customer Experience Management, AI, best practices in Brand Management or all topics around the “via dolorosa” into data-driven customer interactions, common education standards (such as skills & competency frameworks) or the organization as its entirety. Our objective as EMC is to provide the platform for an experience exchange on those topical areas – and support national marketing associations. When the members meet, e.g. for Board Meetings or our event format “Forum”, we focus on updates on current projects such as certification, skills and competency frameworks, the European Marketing Agenda or the CMO of the Year award.
Since The Swedish Marketing Federation is a member of EMC; what can the members expect from the membership?
When the German Marketing Association (DMV/BVMC) joined EMC several years ago, we were keen on exchanging best practices instead of re-inventing the wheel again as a national organization. So, members (as national organizations) profit from being part of the yearly European Marketing Agenda, exchange of best practices in sponsoring for the national marketing associations, best practices in membership recruiting and retention, best practices in marketing events, professional certification and standardization.