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Controversy in 2024 Christmas Adverts: A Strategic Differentiator

As the festive season approaches, brands are unveiling their Christmas adverts, each aiming to capture consumer attention in a crowded marketplace. This year, several campaigns have sparked discussions by embracing controversy, highlighting how bold narratives can differentiate a brand. Boots: Reimagining Mrs. Claus Boots’ 2024 Christmas advert features Adjoa Andoh as a modern Mrs. Claus, […]

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Influencer use and ASA rulings

News that the ASA have banned adverts for Huel and Zoe because they featured an influencer/celebrity who had a interest which wasn’t disclosed within the advertising highlights the need for care when using influencers in promotion. Whilst it is quite acceptable to use influencers, and can make a massive difference, being open about it being […]

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Continuous Development

Today is one of those days when an email comes in with some good news, and with it some relief – confirmation of Chartered Marketer status for another year for our Principal, Andy Sherratt. Andy has been a Chartered Marketer with CIM since the status was introduced in 1998, it requires proof of continuous professional […]

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New CIM Marketing Qualifications

SPA Professional Academy are delighted to be able to offer the new syllabus from the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), details of which have just been released. We will be delivering the new syllabus for all candidates starting their course from September this year – for the Level 3 Foundation Certificate, Level 4 Certificate and […]

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Commendation time again

Thank you again to all our wonderful students who helped us to gain more commendations from CIM for our assessment results from the April 2024 assessment session. We achieved a 100% pass rate across all modules again for April – commendations are given for the percentage of passes but also require a minimum number of […]

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‘phenomenal’ things despite losses

Is it right to say that an organisation has done phenomenal things despite it making what can only be classed as massive losses? The title of this blog is taken from the heading in an article in Car Dealer Magazine as a quote from someone discussing Cazoo and Cinch, the online used car dealers classified […]

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More commendations

Always great to get these letters of commendation for the results our students have achieved – they are awarded by CIM | The Chartered Institute of Marketing to study centres when pass rates for a module exceed 80% as long as a certain minimum number of candidates (I can’t remember how many!) were entered for […]

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Re-use for sustainability – the Abel & Cole way.

There are many aspects and approaches to sustainability but one area which has always struck me as a good solution in many aspects is to reuse things rather than replace them. One area that this has been taken on board (with some coercion in terms of a charge) is the use of carrier bags in […]

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100% pass rate again for July

Congratulations and thanks to all our students for another fantastic set of results, this time for the July 2023 CIM assessments where we have again had 100% pass rate, with 54% of students achieving Merit grade and over 10% with Distinctions. Well done everyone!

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Commendations

It is great to receive this letter from CIM to confirm how well our students have done in their assessments, commendations are given based on the percentage of passes achieved provided student numbers for an assessment session are sufficient (I think it requires at least 5 students but can’t remember specifically). Thanks to our students […]

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