Marketing
is leadership
By Tim Klabunde, special contribution to the
Canadian Design and Construction Report
Diamonds were not valuable until a 1938 marketing
campaign invented the engagement ring and eventually
coined the phrase “diamonds are forever.” Santa’s suit was
green until it became red during a 1931 Coca Cola
marketing campaign. Sliced bread was a terrible idea until
a 1920’s marketing campaign promoted it as a time saving
necessity. As a marketer, our role as a leader is telling and
shaping a story; a story that, in the design and construction
industry, will shape the face of the earth for the next
hundred years or more.

It is not a surprise that I am a marketer in the design and
construction industry. Marketing is leadership; it is about
changing mindsets and setting a direction for others to
follow. That is why I fell in love with marketing for an
industry whose product literally changes the face of the
earth. As marketers for the built environment we do something
exceptional and permanent; two qualities that marketers
8 – Summer 2017 — The Canadian Design and Construction Report
of widgets, software, and just about anything else you can
think of can only dream about. From our roles as marketers
in each of our firms we also have a mutual responsibility
that goes far beyond the industry we serve. Our collective
voice as marketers will shape what the future will look like
for the built environment, and it is a future that we need to
work together to create. It is our choice, we can promote
what has always been, or we can focus on leveraging our
positions of leadership to promote projects and project
approaches that truly make a difference.

I propose that together we can shape three key ideas
that will have a long-lasting and positive impact around the
world: First, we can promote a more sustainable built
environment. This goes far beyond reducing, reusing, and
recycling because of the enormity of the end product our
industry designs and builds. Buildings and infrastructure
are arguably the manmade creations with the largest and
longest lasting impact on earth. Together we can move the
needle if we continually reinforce the benefits of
sustainability in our brochures, proposals, websites, etc.