AI, a loss of marketing ‘training grounds’ and ever-evolving ways to reach your customers… why building marketing team capability matters more than ever
We know training makes marketers better. And now research from Ipsos has proved it.
In a study of 1,226 marketing practitioners across UK, US, Canada and Australia, Ipsos found that marketers who have undertaken some kind of formal training – whether a marketing degree, professional certification or a structured online marketing course like the MiniMBA in Marketing – are more capable and have more measurable impact in their role.
Trained marketers also enjoy better career progression, confidence and job satisfaction.
In fact, marketing training was found to be 10x more important than years of marketing experience.
“Marketing training is 10x more important than years of marketing experience”
While it’s great to finally put a clean, quantitative value on the importance of marketing training, this not-so-surprising fact is something business leaders have been on to for some time.
We’re seeing more and more teams coming through MiniMBA training. 10,000+ of you have now taken MiniMBA as part of a team, from scaleups and SMEs to industry-leading multinationals. In fact, we’ve just signed a multi-year partnership deal with Omnicom Oceana to train 1000+ of their marketers across Australia and New Zealand.
To learn more about what’s driving this shift, we asked three CMOs who have recently trained with MiniMBA why they took part in the programme. And why investing in marketing capability should be a top priority for businesses in 2026.
Plugging the training gap
The great FMCG houses used to serve as the industry’s training grounds – producing generations of world-class marketers. As those institutions have hollowed out, a clear capability gap has opened, says Alistair McCausland.
Alastair McCausland, CMO at BOUNCE Inc
MiniMBA in Marketing, September 2025
“In an increasingly complex marketing environment, with challenging conditions, building team capability has never been more important.
“Having started my career in larger multinationals, I was fortunate enough to not only benefit from world-class training and development programs, but also progressed through roles that enabled on the job learning and growth. The result of this was a well-rounded marketing skillset and confidence gained from both theoretical and practical lessons.
Unfortunately, many marketers don’t have this same opportunity today
“Unfortunately, many marketers don’t have this same opportunity today. This results in marketers with less functional knowledge and confidence, facing into more choices, more challenges and more pressure. This leads to a reliance on constant ‘tactification’ versus the ability to develop and execute sound marketing plans.
“As Mark says himself, ‘being trained in marketing, makes you better at marketing’ and being able to tap into world-class programs such as the MiniMBA in Marketing is a great way to build confidence and competence across all levels of marketers.”
This is a sentiment shared by award-winning New Zealand marketer Frankie Coulter. Read his MiniMBA case study here: MiniMBA delivers Golden Age marketing “in a package,” says Goodman Fielder CMO
Staying responsive – at scale – to market changes like AI
As technology shifts the marketing landscape, it’s more important than ever for teams to share a core understanding across the fundamentals of marketing and brand growth.
Jo Beat, VP Global Digital Marketing at Nearmap
MiniMBA in Marketing, April 2025; MiniMBA in Brand Management, September 2025
“Marketing training is core infrastructure. It is the only scalable way to keep teams grounded in the fundamentals while staying responsive to AI, data and market change.
“Training is about building marketers who are commercially literate, creatively ambitious and have an intrinsic understanding of how to build and sustain growth in an increasingly complex environment.”
De-tactification
Modern marketers are drowning in channels, tools and execution. The MiniMBA pulls them out of the tactical weeds and back to the strategic foundations of marketing.
Geoff Bull, CMO at Confused.com
MiniMBA in Marketing, September 2025
“I think the shift back towards marketing training stems from the breadth of marketing tactics today. You can spend years mastering Paid Search, or SEO, or CRM, or Brand Advertising or Media Buying… focused on the craft, the tactics, the changing tools.
You can spend years mastering Paid Search, or SEO, or CRM...
“But it's really, really important to stand back and remind yourself, and refresh your skills – separate from any channel considerations – on the core of marketing: who is my customer, what do they need, what does the market look like, how should I position my brand?”
The next MiniMBA courses in Marketing, Brand Management and Management begin in September 2026. Download a training brochure or speak to our training team to explore how MiniMBA can support your organisation’s capability goals.
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