PRESS RELEASE

16 October 2009

GLOBAL MESSAGE BROUGHT HOME TO KENT

Steering an international bank through the choppy waters of the recession, to emerge with its sails and its reputation intact, was the theme of this year’s Kent Annual Marketing Lecture, delivered to a packed house at the Ramada Hotel, Maidstone.

The Kent Annual Marketing Lecture is organised jointly by the Chartered Institute of Marketing and Business Link. The event provides the county’s marketing professionals with an insight from a keynote speaker into key marketing techniques that can be applied at a local level.

Guest speaker Huw Morgan, Head of Business Banking at HSBC, told a business audience of more than 90 people how HSBC had developed over the last ten years. The bank, with a history going back more than a century, successfully branded itself in the global market, and with the ‘world’s local bank’ tag earning itself a position in the top 50 most recognised international brands.

At the event, Charlotte Wallace, Product Manager with BT, was named Chartered Institute of Marketing Kent Student of the Year for passing all four of her Professional Postgraduate Diploma modules in one year and achieved the highest aggregate score in Kent. Charlotte, from Chislehurst, studied with The Marketers Forum. She was presented with her award by David Yates, South East Regional Chair of the Chartered Institute of Marketing.

Tony Buddin, Head of Marketing at Business Link, said: “The Kent Annual Marketing Lecture is always very popular. The brand is a key asset for any company and this event was highly relevant to the development of marketing strategies in all industries.”

Neil Lakeland, Chair of the Kent Branch of the Chartered Institute of Marketing said: “How Morgan delivered a masterclass on brand building across a range of media and provided a number of useful tips for smaller businesses to take away.  Whilst not every company has the budget which HSBC had, all companies have the ability to build a dominant brand in their sector providing they address the key issues which Huw focused on.”

For more information about the support available, call Business Link on 0845 600 9 006.

ENDS

PICTURE: Huw Morgan, Head of Business Banking at HSBC Bank, guest speaker at the annual Kent Annual Marketing Lecture
PIC CREDIT PLEASE: Jason Dodd Photography

For more media information, please contact:
Rachel Knight or Georgette McCready, Maxim, 01892 513033 or email: first name@maxim-pr.co.uk

Notes to editors
Business Link in Kent provides the information, advice and support businesses need to start, maintain and grow a business. It exists to help anyone thinking of starting a business; to help small and medium-sized businesses to grow and to help businesses deal with problems, challenges and opportunities. Over the last year Business Link in Kent provided support to over 4,000 people considering starting a business and to 1,500 who actually started. Over 20,000 businesses were assisted with general information and advice with more than 2,500 being assisted in depth by a Business Link adviser. 

The Business Link service in Kent and Medway is delivered by Business Support Kent Community Interest Company.