Question and Answer with the Editor in Chief of Marketing Week, Russell Parsons

Russell Parsons, Editor in Chief of Marketing Week
Russell Parsons sits on top of one of the marketing industry's most important publications. As an influencer, a change maker, a critic, and a promoter, his views are so interesting to hear from the horses mouth. We also snuck in a few tactical questions on what really works on the PR front if you're looking to be featured in Marketing Week.

Some of the headlines included:
– Knowing your audience and what they are interested in
– Write about content that matters. What will make a difference in the audience’s professional lives?
– Measuring success on impact and influence vs vanity metrics
– Sometimes it is essential to say the things that others don’t want to – be bold
– Understand the context that you’re writing in
– Learn your craft and get as much experience as possible.

And much more! (Thanks to Jessica Houston for the notes!)

About Russell Parsons:

Marketing Week was founded in 1978 with the first issue going out on the 10th of March, 1978 with a magazine priced at 40p. Today, the publication regularly features the likes of Mark Ritson, Tim Fishbourne, and Helen Edwards with Marketing Week going on to become one of the most important sources of inspiration, information and education for marketers across the land.

In 2014, Russell Parsons became the 7th editor having worked his way up from being a reporter in 2009. Russell took over the ship in a real time of change for journalism with the digitalisation of how we engage with content meaning big changes in business models: one example being in In 2019, Marketing Week announced a subscription service. Only a few weeks ago, Russell was announced as Editor in Chief of Marketing Week and the Festival of Marketing. One caveat Russell gave at his talk at the London event is that he doesn’t claim to be a marketer – this is important!

On a personal level, a measure of Russell as a person can be found in an article where he was asked the best piece of advice he’d received. Simply, his response was: “Be kind. It’s nice to be nice.”

We can say this holds true to my personal experience of the man. We first met Russell through Joe’s involvement with the School of Marketing. Here Russell was integral in a movement to bring through the next generation of marketers into our industry by opening their eyes to the possibilities our profession holds. This wasn’t something he had to do, but something he threw the weight of Marketing Week behind because it’s important to inspire the next generation. Outside of work, Russell is a proud father, and a pop music fan. We just want to say a big thanks to Russell, as not only does he have a huge influence on our industry, but he’s impacted us personally through his work and his actions – grateful for him.