"My father, John Lepere, was a big man. Big in frame and big in character. Everywhere I went in my first job at O’Connor O’Sullivan Advertising, I was met with “oh you’re John’s son”. And I am. But I am also Marc. And at least from a professional point of view, it was important for me to step out
from under his ample shadow to work in the UK and US.

So, I hope you can understand my enormous professional pride to be here representing my fellow judges, the Council and the Marketing Society of Ireland – past and present. And my deep personal pride, and gratitude to the Society, and each of you, for commemorating the values and skills of my
father and his colleagues with this award, which incidentally, my mother and I first presented in 2000 to the top student at the Smurfit Business School.
In the 1970s Dad was one of the founders of the Marketing Society. He and his colleagues were concerned with marketing as a field rather than as a set of functional skills, important though they are. So, let’s consider marketing in the broadest sense.

“Marketing today is not a function – it’s a way of doing business”. The ‘today’ referred to in this quote is from 25 years ago. The evening of 21 March 1991 to be precise. Speaking at a Marketing Society event, Dad was quoting from Regis McKenna’s famous article, “Marketing is everything”
published a month previously. He also quoted Peter Drucker, “Marketing encompasses the entire business...from the point of view of its final result”.

If marketing is the “final result” of “the entire business”, then I suggest we have become duty-bound to consider the social and environmental impact of our core business activities, and not just their economic impact.

Governments and philanthropists cannot cope with the scale and complexity of the social and environmental challenges facing mankind. OECD governments are now spending around 20% of GDP, more than $10 trillion, on social issues annually. Philanthropists are donating about $500
billion a year. But it’s not enough - nor could it ever be.  

Businesses, both large and small, are beginning to recognise that they have a role to play in alleviating disease and hunger, in redressing inequalities of income and opportunity, in repairing and protecting the planet...and by helping to solve these problems, in turn, the business can ensure its continued prosperity and sustainable success. If the next generation of marketers are to rise to the challenge, I believe there are two skills they need to focus on...Data and analytics and Strategic vision. Let’s consider them one at a time.
In the context of changing media habits and competitive pressures have the quieter disciplines of data collection and analysis been overshadowed by the inherent glamour of communications and the short-term focus on sales revenue?
The Marketing Society grew out of the Market Research Society of Ireland. As its first Chairman, Dad and colleagues quickly realised, and I quote from the 1974 IMJ; “they must broaden the base and include marketing managers, brand managers and advertising men”. Apparently, businesswomen were yet to be invented.
As we consider the power of big data, the growth of Artificial Intelligence and the potential of machine learning, it’s worth remembering us Humans. Our capacity for empathy and judgement of peoples’ needs, motivations and behaviours is indispensable. The best use of emerging technologies will be a partnership of Artificial and Human Intelligence – a partnership that only the true marketer can provide. We as marketers need to put data and analytics back at the heart of what we do. 

Another key skill of the true marketer is Strategic vision. It was a strength of my father in his many roles as Chairman of PJ Carroll’s, Erin Foods and Irish Marketing Surveys, and as Board Director of Irish Sugar, Dublin Gas, Tedcastles and the National Maternity Hospital amongst others.
It can be argued that since the mid-1970s, the pervasiveness of the idea of Maximising Shareholder Value (MSV) has had two key outcomes on business. Firstly, because it is focused on the quarterly or annual demands of financial markets, MSV has forced businesses to become more short-term than
they would wish, and certainly than they need to be in the future.
Secondly, MSV requires the redirection of profits to shareholders, often via financial engineering, away from other productive investments like R&D, skills development, higher wages or technology upgrades. The consensus now, after 40 years of maximising shareholder value, is that it is having a
detrimental effect on the health of companies worldwide. If marketing is “a way of doing business”, that way clearly needs to change. Marketers need to re-discover their role as strategic visionaries of the organisation. Leaders who inspire a different way of doing business, motivated by the external impact on society and the environment. We as marketers need to allow ourselves to be driven by the market and not just the stock market.

An analytical mind, visionary thinking and the ability to inspire - are the hallmarks of marketing. Never have these skills been more needed by business and mankind. Never has there been a better time to be a marketer. And that is the Council’s aim in relaunching this award; to recognise and reward an outstanding talent from the next generation of marketers. So, I am delighted, on behalf of three generations of Leperes, to present the 2017 Lepere Award to Ciara Delaney, BSc in Marketing DIT."