The Chartered Institute of Marketing, Ghana (CIMG) has launched the 2019 CIMG Annual National Marketing Performance Awards.

Speaking at the launch, the National President of CIMG, Dr. Daniel Kasser-Tee said the successes chalked over the last three decades is partly attributable to the generosity of donors, support from its sponsors and the unwavering commitment of the evaluators, stressing “they have collectively worked to ensure that the general public has confidence in our awards, enabling the awards to gain global recognition and the highest level of credibility.”

Dr. Kasser-Tee also urged businesses to use creative approaches to stimulate demand for their goods and services, adding they should avoid using COVID-19 as an excuse to streamline their budgets.

“If times get hard and the first approach for an organization is to cut marketing budget, it is like saying cost of feeding is going high so let’s begin by cutting parts of the body away. Once you cut the head, the human being does not exist again. So, marketing spend should be the last thing to touch in hard times because you need to find creative ways of stimulating demand for your products and services,” he advised.

He reiterated the importance of the Marketing Law which was assented to by President Akufo-Addo last month.

He expressed optimism that the implementation of a marketing law will help sanitise the marketing industry as it will help regulate the practice of marketing.

The National President of CIMG further explained that taking up professional courses in marketing will help distinguish between the professionals and the non-professionals.

Vice President of CIMG and Chairperson of the Planning Committee, Agnes Emefa Essah, explained that the selection of the judges and various awards nominee goes through a rigorous process.

“Three years ago, we introduced an online system for completing the questionnaire by nominees as well as an online assessment for the assessors (judges) who are chosen from various sectors of the corporate world. This set up has made it easy for CIMG to continue to drive a rigorous process even in this Covid-19 era where virtual means of communication has almost become the norm of getting things done”.