Sri Lanka celebrates National Marketing Day with marketing guru Phillip Kotler in attendance
Sri Lanka celebrated its inaugural National Marketing Day on the 27th of May with a mark of respect to Professor Philip Kotler, known as the ‘ Father of Modern Marketing’ for his great contribution to the subject domain of marketing. Professor Philip Kotler is well respected for his involvement in making the world aware that the subject of marketing is important and popular, among other disciplines, for sustainable development. The event was organised by Mr. Denzil Perera who is a marketing and growth strategist, business consultant, and brand coach on the invitation of the Open University of Sri Lanka.
As Professor Philip Kotler celebrated his 91st birthday on the 27th May, he joined the event online and did a wonderful session based on the topic of sustainable marketing and a few other new domains under modern marketing. He was appreciative of the initiative taken to declare a National Marketing Day on his birthday and mentioned that Sri Lanka is the first country to do so.
He was also touched by a special tribute video that was played to bring best wishes to him. He thanked Prof. Thilakaratna – the vice-chancellor and Prof. Nalin Abeysekara – The Dean of the Management Faculty of the Open University of Sri Lanka for the declaration.
Addressing the event, Prof. Abeysekara mentioned that “as Sri Lankan scholars and academia, there is a need for them to socialise the subject of marketing by mainly concentrating on the SME sector. He mentioned that they have done this for the last 3-4 decades and in the post-Covid era, there should be improved approaches and strategies to take this subject to untapped corners of Sri Lanka and to also study indigenous marketing practices with a global touch.
Addressing the gathering, Mr. Denzil Perera mentioned that without the initial thought of declaring an inaugural Marketing Day, this would have never been a reality and hence stressed the importance of new thoughts and thinking of Prof Abeysekara. He mentioned The English Tea Shop with gratitude as it would have been difficult to organise something of this nature without their help. He also thanked Mr. Suranga Herath – CEO of The English Tea shop and his team for the special tea box delivered to Prof Kotler in advance to his residence. As professor Kotler highlighted and spoke on the importance of Sustainable Marketing, Denzil Perera highlighted the relevance and importance of sustainable consumption, which needs to be widespread in Sri Lanka and around the world.
At the invitation of Prof Abeysekara, heads of the marketing departments of the key universities also joined as speakers of the conference. Prof Ravi Dissanayake of Kelaniya, Prof Dinesh Samarasinghe of Moratuwa, Dr. Ruwangi Chandrasekara of Colombo, Prof Amila Jayarathna of Jayewardenepura, Dr. Sujeewi Sapukotanage of the Open University, Prof ( Mrs.) Shivany Sammugathas of Jaffna, Prof M. I. M Hilal of the Eastern University, Dr. J.D.T. Madhushanka of Rajarata, Dr. Nuresh Eranda of Peradeniya, Profesrro Imali Fernando of Uwa- Wellassa were among the universities which were represented by heads of the marketing departments
Denzil Perera thanked Dr. Mahesh Dhall of the Nepal University, who was also the Chairman of Nepal, National Television for his cooperation and taking part in the session with an impactful message. He further thanked Oshadee and the TIIKM team, Mr. Tharindu Rathnayaka from the Open University of Sri L a n k a , M r s. K a u s h a l y a Abeywickrama, and Mr. Manjula Fernando of the ICBM campus for all the support extended towards organising the event and also mentioned and appreciated the support extended by the services marketing guru Ron Kaufman for supporting the initiative. A special collage of Professor Philip Kotler was presented by Lanka Salusala Ltd as a hand-made creation at the event.