Dr. Ildikó Fazekas received the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Hungarian Marketing Association

The president of the organization and vice-president Dr. Árpád Papp-Váry presented the award to this year’s winner last Thursday, on the stage of the Várkert Bazaar

There are hardly any specialists in our country who do not know the name of Dr. Ildikó Fazekas, as the specialist has made indelible merits in the domestic higher education of the marketing and advertising profession (Budapest University of Economics, Faculty of Foreign Trade, Budapest Corvinus University, Budapest Metropolitan University), in increasing the recognition and prestige of the profession, and in the introduction of ethical advertising practice. The awardee came from the marketing profession, as he originally graduated as a market organizing economist (that’s what marketing was called then), and before becoming a university lecturer, he worked as a marketer for companies such as Fővárosi Bútor Hangszer Sportszer Kiskereskedelmi Vállalat or Caola-Schwarzkopf.

After that, Ildikó – somewhat leaving the world of higher education – turned to the self-regulation of advertising and has been the head of the Self-Regulating Advertising Board for more than a quarter of a century, 26 years to be exact. Among other things, he is credited with the continuous updating of the Advertising Code. His work is recognized not only in Hungary, but also abroad. As the former president of the European Self-Regulatory Organization (EASA), he is currently active as a board member of the organization. Moreover, due to his initiative, the inevitable issue of self-regulation of advertising received a global print beyond the old continent.

Dr. Ildikó Fazekas believes that marketing practitioners must love the profession, and no matter what position or role they work in, they must go beyond the daily routines, constantly analyzing and examining the environmental, social and consumer environment and dynamics relevant to the given market. According to the specialist, the main rule can always be not to deceive the consumer, because it damages the brand even in the short term and, moreover, destroys the faith in advertising and our profession. And the miracle of the profession is precisely that we can build value-enhanced, timeless and viable brands from a physical product. Marketing is a beautiful and special profession because it requires the continuous application of diverse, creative and stable, yet flexible solutions based on professional foundations, the expert says. Marketers now have a dazzlingly wide range of tools available to them in order to achieve an impact, but all this is also associated with a huge responsibility, warns Dr. Ildikó Fazekas.

Magyar Marketing Szövetség