Arup Australasia’s John Clay has taken out certifying Practising Marketer of the Year and Publicis’ chairman, Andrew Baxter, the Sir Charles McGrath Award for industry contribution at this year’s Australian Marketing Institute (AMI) Awards.

Executives running businesses today are ultimately looking for marketers to go beyond marketing. And that’s never been more apparent than in the computing sector, a brutal industry that survives on waves of annual or biannual product improvement and has seen price points decrease by more than half in a decade, Lenovo’s Nick Reynolds says.

The task set for Natalie Robinson when she became director of marketing and communication at Melbourne Polytechnic two-and-a-half years ago was immense. She inherited a brand with close to zero brand awareness, for one.

ABC’s Leisa Bacon is a “complete content junkie”. She’ll even be the first to say so - and that’s a good thing considering she’s director of audiences for the nation’s public broadcasting network and working to make a difference in the community.

Paul Stern’s proudest moment in the last 12 months was representing Kathmandu at the European Outdoor trade show. The reason? He’s spearheading a transformation of the outdoor clothing and accessories manufacturer and retailer’s international go-to-market strategy.

It’s the mission of modern marketers to demonstrate marketing as one of the few genuine drivers of growth within an organisation, NAB’s CMO, Andrew Knott, says.

If she had to pick her proudest moment over the last 12 months, AUB Limited’s Vanessa Lyons says it’d be pioneering the development and implementation of the group’s purpose with a customer-centred outlook.

“Our motto is ‘great team, great work’, because if you don’t have the former, you never have the latter,” PayPal Australia marketing director, Elaine Herlihy, says.

UBank CMO, Jo Kelly, is not a fan of best practice. In fact, she thinks it’s boring.

As CMO of AIA A/NZ, Renae Smith leads a cross-functional department including brand, product and pricing, digital, marketing communications and the insurance group’s leading wellness program, AIA Vitality. But she also finds herself purposely aligned to the HR chief.

A strong alignment between marketing and editorial along with great support from the CFO has helped empower the marketing function and carsales.com, according to CMO Kellie Cordner.

IAG established Satellite in 2016 as an independent division to disrupt the market, create a lower cost platform for the business and drive profitability of the group’s challenger brands.

A global specialist, integrated travel insurance, medical assistance and employee assistance provider in one, it’s no wonder Cover-More Group’s chief of strategy and innovation, Cameron Pearson, is always looking at fresh ways to ensure the brand’s three core capabilities work in synergy together in the face of growing global market demand for standalone medical assistance and employee assistance providers.

The past year has been one of extraordinary change for CUB, VP of marketing for Asia-Pacific south zone, Richard Oppy, says.

It’s been two-and-a-half years since Stephanie Tully took the CMO’s post at Qantas, and already she’s planning her second shake-up of the marketing function’s org design.

​Marketing has historically been about making people want things. Today, it’s about making things that people want, Diageo Australia’s Adam Ballesty says.

Twelve months ago, Westpac’s Martine Jager was assigned responsibility for customer experience and the task of lifting the brand’s Net Promoter Score. The change saw her take over the Customer Experience team – formerly known as the customer service or complaints department.

Caroline Bonpain’s proudest moment in the last 12 months has been the debut of Dyson’s Supersonic hairdryer. It’s a product that saw the brand reposition itself away from its heritage primarily as a vacuum cleaner company, and into a reputable and trusted technology brand.

Getting specialist marketers to appreciate each other’s prowess is one thing; getting them to work truly collaboratively is another. Which is why Sportsbet’s CMO and now chief commercial officer, Barni Evans, decided to switch around his brand and creative head with his head of media and data-driven marketing.

In April 2016, Campbell Arnott’s embarked on one of the biggest brand relaunches in company history for the Shapes brand. It was a risky decision that led to significant consumer and media backlash, yet ultimately resulted in a strong brand turnaround, its VP of marketing, David McNeil, says.

Technology may have been the main cause of marketing disruption over the past few years, but the next wave will inevitably be through process, Deakin University’s Trisca Scott-Branagan believes.