The MII Grad Step 1— Qualified Marketer Exam
When I moved to Ireland and even before that, I researched Marketing Communities and Institutions. I think there are great benefits in professional networking and being an active member of communities with a focus of your interest (I won’t go into detail now, since it’s not the point of this article). So I came across the Marketing Institute of Ireland and as I was learning about members benefits, they appealed to me so I decided to join. Looking for the membership details, I saw that for personal there are two options: pay a fee (€262 in the first year and €230 annually) or join by exam (which is €30, covering the administrative costs). While I loved the idea of getting qualified and having my name in the list of qualified marketers, evidently the Impostor Syndrome kicked in and told me to pace myself, learn more about Irish specific marketing and then maybe think about joining the exam. That was a couple of weeks back, when I was still job hunting, with self-confidence that couldn’t really climb the highest mountains. But after landing a pretty sweet job (more about that in another article), I felt confident enough to sit through the exam without any fancy prep time.
As I researched the exam structure and possible topics, I came across very few sources that would give other info than the MII had. This article was thought as a one-stop source for marketers interested in the Qualified Marketer Exam by The Marketing Institute of Ireland.
One useful thing I found was a structure description (yay!) published on the Trinity College Dublin website and decided to e-mail the exam coordinator, thinking that the 3+ years of real life marketing would surely mean something.
Friday, I signed in and received an e-mail with useful details:
a) Location: Dublin Institute of Technology, Aungier Street, Dublin 2
b) Schedule for the day (as described in the TCD post mentioned before)
10 a.m. — 12 p.m. Read the Case Study
12 p.m. –1 p.m. Break up into groups and discuss the case with colleagues (optional)
1 p.m. — 2 p.m. Lunch Break
2 p.m. — 4.50 p.m Answer the questions based on the case study you have read. (You will have the case all day to refer too) and remember it’s an open book exam so you can refer to your own notes or books you bring on the day.
Saturday, I went to the DIT campus to take the exam. The room was spacious and there were about 20 single desks.
Part 1: The structure of the exam was presented to us and we were handed the case study. A very well documented paper with an acute academic feel. I felt like I was in college again (in a good way).
Case study topic (paraphrased): American Eagle Outfitter — Social Media & Retail Marketing (focus on Instagram).
The story followed American Eagle Outfitter (AEO) and its UK store launch. It started by presenting how Social Media is used for Retail brands in general, then talked about AEO and how the company is integrating Social Media in their Marketing Efforts. Lastly, the case study outlined two of the AEO’s competitors, perfect for benchmarking due to different approaches to new market penetration: a) Abercrombie & Fitch (used a standardized approach for all stores, regardless of the location) and b) H&M (used a mixture of a standardized approach with location influenced personalisation of their products).
Part 2: Solving the questions (three). Below, the paraphrased version.
- How could AEO improve their positioning in comparison with their competitors? Create a product-positioning map along two variables that are meaningful to consumers.
- What are the Advantages and Disadvantages of integrating SMM with the entire Marketing Strategy? What Improvement ideas would you pitch to AEO?
- Standardize versus localize a brand? Discussion of this in the context of AEO’s launch in the UK.
I found the case study insightful and enjoyed learning about best practices when it comes to transferring your brand to a different location in the global marketing context (better to mix standardization, keeping the aspects customers identify your brand with, and localization, adapt to the market so that you gain its trust). The questions allowed me to dig into my knowledge back and also to get creative and I appreciated the journey they made me take. All in all, sitting for the exam was one of the best use of my time lately.
I hope you enjoyed reading my Review of the Qualified Marketer Exam. Let me know in the comments if you have further curiosities or questions.
