Celebrating Innovation with the New Edition of Global MBA in Digital Business

The fifth edition of Zigurat’s Global MBA in Digital Business will take off on September 29, 2019. It’s a program that during the years has evolved in tandem with the business world and has always aimed to anticipate the market needs.

To mark the occasion, Tess Guetat, an alumna of the first edition of the MBA and integrated communication and marketing expert, shared with the Zigurat Community her transformation journey. Originally from Belgium, and with an international career spanning Europe, the USA and the Middle East, Tess describes herself now as a change management consultant and assists organizations with specific interventions that help them advance in their change journey.

Tectonic Shift in the Advertising Industry

With 20 years of experience in advertising, Tess Guetat has witnessed many changes that have transformed the face of the industry. However, she agrees that the coming of age of new audiences made up of Millennials and Gen Z with different media consumption preferences is shaking the foundations of the whole industry. Tess goes on to say that the new consumers’ distinct lack of appetite for traditional media, their active dislike for interruptive content, preference for social media engagements and expected holistic customer experience have pushed brands to look for more innovative solutions continuously. The companies are face to face with the choice of defining more competitive, efficient and profitable customers’ and employees’ engagement strategies that will help them to best respond to an increasingly digital native audience, or to become outdated.

How to keep up with the competitors?

While studying the MBA, Tess worked on her final project of the master’s that proposes a blueprint for the transformation of a traditional network communication agency. In it, she reviewed in detail all operational aspects of a creative communication agency and its complementing sister agencies such as media, PR, digital, research, etc. as part of a holding group.

“The objective of the transformed agency in my project is to better respond to customers’ and brands’ needs for engagement and continuous innovation and to be better equipped to face future changes” she resumes.

The understanding that rather than just a service, the agencies must deliver value to their clients is the guarantee of success. Tess has witnessed how traditional marketing agencies that have transformed a few years ago to a service offering closer to that of tech or strategic consultancies have enjoyed a positive reception from brands and have shown great results in terms of acquiring more clients and projects through new and additional revenue streams. By doing so, they have managed to secure themselves a place in the future of the industry.

An investment in knowledge pays the best interest

Tess Guetat knows that the ability to innovate and deliver added value to clients is a significant factor in success. As a consultant, she assists organizations with specific projects: “Such as qualitative and quantitative primary research and stakeholder analysis, but also interventions related to culture change, internal communication, team and individual coaching and mentoring.” To be able to face future changes and innovate, one should rely on good training. Tess has sculpted herself into a veritable change agent who feels at home in a digital ecosystem and has a visionary approach to innovation. In order to achieve that, she just continues learning and upgrading her skills: after the MBA, Tess went on to acquire a CIPD diploma in HR management. As educational institution, Zigurat’s purpose is to train digitally native professionals who continue to thrive in the ever-changing work environment and are able to bring that extra something to the table. The fifth edition of Global MBA in Digital Business awaits everyone looking to move beyond digital optimization and expand the organizations through truly transformational practices.