The Focus on EQ in Marketing Procurement – Paula O’Reilly (BT), Lora Peach (Allianz Insurance), and Tina Fegent (Tina Fegent Ltd) – Episode 34

“Marketing is an investment, and we are guardians of that investment, and we can drive the value for that investment.”

If there’s one category within procurement that we haven’t yet really dived into on Talent Talks, it’s likely to be marketing procurement. It’s proven to be an area with some unique and interesting challenges, particularly recruiting and training in the sector. 

This poses a fantastic opportunity for the first panel discussion of 2021, gathering a wealth of experience between Lora Peach of Allianz Insurance, Paula O’Reilly from Britvic, and Tina Fegent, a Marketing Procurement Consultant of nearly 15 years. We hear why some recruiters are focusing more on soft skills than category experience, the benefits we all stand to gain from closer collaboration with suppliers, and the current landscape of mentoring and training.

This episode of Talent Talks covers:

  • How marketing procurement is perceived in the wider industry
  • Staying up to date with the market
  • Demonstrating investment in training
  • How to support marketing departments in achieving cost and value
  • Adding value through the pandemic and avoiding crisis mode
  • Overcoming the lack of face-to-face interaction
  • Networking and pitching online

This episode of Talent Talks is sponsored by Suppleye – a free to access platform that provides fresh insights, breaking news and unique sentiment scores on the companies that interest you. Know your suppliers inside and out by visiting https://www.suppleye.com/ and signing up in less than 2 minutes.

Links & references

Episode highlights

“I think in the wider procurement community it’s quite interesting, because marketing procurement can be seen as a bit of a fluffy procurement area. But I feel it’s really at the heart of the business, because for most organizations marketing drives how we perceive the brand, how we drive value, and it’s a really exciting place to be.” – 2:45 – Paula O’Reilly

“Marketing is an investment, and we are guardians of that investment, and we can drive the value for that investment.” – 6:15 – Tina Fegent

“What marketers won’t want to do is compromise, getting the best people to work with us to get a cheaper cost. That’s not the way that marketing procurement would work. We would always work quite closely to understand what’s important to our marketing colleagues, but also try to balance that against the value that we bring back into the business. ” – 7:45 – Paula O’Reilly

“When we’re busy it’s hard, and training is often the last thing that you have on your list to do. I think going forward it’s so important to try and make the time to do that.” – 11:11 – Paula O’Reilly

“We tend to lean on our supplier base a lot. So we’ll have meetings with our agencies, our suppliers, and just get to know the new innovations, any up and coming things, and that’s been supported by our new SRM function” – 12:10 – Lora Peach

“That’s one thing that I think does concern me – baby buyers, and that basic understanding of marketing when you’re not connected or plugged in to the marketing community, or aren’t as experienced as we are for example.” – 14:31 – Tina Fegent

“You want someone who has EQ who can talk to our stakeholders and influence them. You’re also influencing within the business as well, and you need that really strong EQ. Or you go for someone who has got the marketing knowledge because you can teach the procurement skill, so long as they’ve got the commercial knowledge.” – 18:30 – Paula O’Reilly

“I think within universities, and certainly when I did a diploma in marketing, marketing procurement was never something that was touched upon, and it’s such an integral part of marketing, just driving that awareness and having it as an extension for a development area as well.” – 23:30 – Lora Peach

“My constant message to everyone at the moment when they’re looking for people is to be open minded. That EQ and IQ side of things that we talked about earlier; they’ve got to have the right soft skills. I don’t know any procurement person right now that’s going to compromise on that.” – 26:57 – Martin Smith

“I have seen that over again over the last 12-18 months that it’s around making sure that you’re having those interactions, meetings and connections on what marketing’s objectives are, where they’re wanting to take their overall plans et cetera, so that we can align with that.” – 31:08 – Lora Peach

“I think it’s just one of the things I’ve really started missing, I’m never going to moan about going to a conference ever again! I can’t wait to get back to them. And it is a social category, it really is, with our stakeholders, and the supplier market, and just with each other as well.” – 37:05 – Tina Fegent

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