by Gareth S.Jules

We live in an age where technology has pretty much been instilled in our DNA one way or another. Over the past decade we have seen a shift in the way companies present their products and services to consumers due to the widespread use of social media. Just look around St. Lucia, most companies are turning to social media and online marketing as a way of not only cutting down on their marketing budget but to reach a vast number of people in a short period.

Meet Leslie Collymore, 38. of The Morne, Castries. A former student of the Carmen Rene Memorial School and St. Mary’s College, Leslie received  his tertiary education at the Sir Arthur Lewis Community College. He subsequently attended Midwestern State University in Texas, USA where he attained a BBA in Marketing. With years dedicated to honing his craft, he holds more than 17 professional certifications in Marketing, ICT, Leadership, and sports administration. Leslie is currently the managing director of Advanced Intellectual Methods (AIM), a fast-growing, innovative management consulting firm in St. Lucia. He’s also the president of the St. Lucia Basketball Federation and recently nominated to serve on the FIBA America Marketing Committee (International Basketball Governing body).

We sat with Leslie for an exclusive interview during which he spoke about the founding of AIM, his fascinating exploits in the dynamic and exciting world of web-based strategic marketing, and his love for basketball.

Dazzle: Tell us about AIM.

Leslie: Advanced Intellectual Methods (AIM) was founded in 2009, and at that time concentrated on Web Development, E-Marketing and E-Business as it was referred to at the time. About two years ago we decided to make a strategic shift in focus to a core set of activities. We now focus on strategic marketing counsel, Innovation, customer insight, digital strategy/training, and business analytics.

Dazzle: Describe your professional journey and the establishment of AIM.

Leslie: I started at the St. Lucia Tourist Board (SLTB) with responsibility for market research. Through international training opportunities, I was exposed to e-marketing. At the time, tourism was highly competitive. The internet levelled the marketing playing field and not too long after my responsibilities primarily became developing and executing the destinations online marketing strategies. Whilst at SLTB, I had the opportunity to work with Google conceptualizing marketing and destination way finding for their Mapping solution Google Earth.

After that enlightening stint, I went on to the M&C Group of companies and became the group-marketing manager at age 25. In that sector, there was no digital marketing, very different from SLTB. Based on my tourism experience I began pushing the e-marketing agenda, however the company was in a state of transition at that time and so naturally adoption was slow. Then the financial services sector came knocking and I undertook the role of Assistant manager of marketing at the ECFH Group with responsibility for Advertising &, promotion, Research, product development & Management , Digital Marketing and events. Once again blessed with another dynamic and fast paced sector since financial institutions are heavy users of technology, marketing and digital applications. After that I moved over to Digicel St. Lucia as the Head of Marketing with the executive responsibility for the Marketing function. While all this was going on, AIM was establishing itself as a viable standalone entity, fully staffed and functional. After gaining invaluable experience and training from my corporate journey, I felt that it was time to devote my time and energy full time to AIM.

Dazzle: What are some of AIM’s biggest achievements?

Leslie: We always take a strategic approach to our projects, spending a lot of time looking at trends and market opportunities which can create value for our customers. This year we were nominated for the Prime Minister’s Award for Innovation for developing an application called TAKE FLIGHT. The application is custom built solution which manages the reservations, accounting, engineering, feet management and pilot schedules for St. Lucia Helicopters. We also attained our global partner certification in 2015 with Constant Contact which. is an online marketing company, headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts, with additional offices in San Francisco; Loveland, Colorado; New York, New York; Delray Beach, Florida; and London, England.

Dazzle: How did you become involved with Basketball?

Leslie: Basketball is something that I’ve always enjoyed….scatch that… LOVED. I started playing at age 15 at St. Mary’s College and then played for the Morne Stars, Courts Jets, St. Lucia and abroad. After my playing days, I decided to focus my energy on the administrative side of things to help promote and develop the sport in St. Lucia.

Dazzle: How did you land the role of President of the St. Lucia Basketball Federation?

Leslie: In 2011 I met my old coach who invited me to a meeting to elect a new executive. I was invited to the meeting to vote. They started with nominees for the role of president. Persons had to give their ideas for developing the sport. I was then asked to give my opinion. At that time, I realized it was a set up. I gave them my views on the critical issues and development strategies. After that they moved a motion to nominate me. Out of fifty people, I received the overwhelming majority of the votes and the rest, as they say- is history. From there we decided to focus on five strategic pillars; governance, marketing, fund raising, finances, technical matters and tournaments.

The last 5 years have been challenging however within the next two years we are looking to have a mini-hoops grassroots program, Under 15, Under 19 and senior male and female teams. We also want to have an established university recruitment process. Our goal as a Federation has and has always been development, hence the development of the National and Commercial Leagues. We recently met with some college recruiters with a view to signing an MOU, which would guarantee basketball scholarships for our young men and women. Hopefully in the next five years we can have our first male or female NBA or WNBA player.

Dazzle: What are some of the major international projects that you have worked on? How did they find out about your work?

Leslie: A lot of the work that we do overseas is on research and customer insight. The first major gig that we landed was with UWI Mona. They were doing a study on the adoption of tertiary education in the OECS and the viability of establishing a four-year fully functional university. We also did a research project for a company in Tokyo, which was subcontracted by a Japanese statutory agency. The challenge was to research on the ageing of the Japanese population. Specifically, the reasons why the Japanese youth aren’t procreating at a fast enough rate to counteract the vast number of aging persons in their population; which in turn was creating stress of social services, national insurance and the welfare state. Based on the research that we did, we found out that the young population is more interested in technology, counter cultures and virtual reality. Despite these international projects there’s truly no greater feeling than creating value for our St Lucian customers. Locally we have worked with the Gov’t institutions, statutory bodies, large organizations, many SME and micro enterprises as well as non-profits. Working with voluntary organizations is part of our corporate social responsibilities. The approach that we’ve taken is through ‘Random Acts’ where an act of kindness would be done randomly.

Dazzle: You recently obtained a Constant Contact Certification. Tell us about that and its impact on businesses.

Leslie: Email marketing is still one of the most effective tools for digital marketing. Constant Contact is one of the leading email marketing solutions. We did research into them and decided to become a partner, internally certifying our team members in the different modules. When that was done, we brought the service to clients informing them that this is the right way to email marketing. We are partners with Constant Contact in the region. So in effect, you can have us manage it for you or we can set it, train you or your team up and provide technical support. This certification is global and so we can provide support to clients anywhere in the world.

Dazzle: How do you manage to operate in the current economic climate?

Leslie: Very often companies look at their budgets and first thing they cut their marketing budget. Easy enough to do but not advisable as studies will show that in tough economic times one should increase their marketing activity to let the public, clients and potential clients know that they’re still in existence, still viable and still able to provide value. No doubt It has been a challenge but a strategic, persistent approach must be employed in order to deal with the issues.

Dazzle: Where do you see AIM in five to ten years?

Leslie: I think that you will see AIM diversify into other areas where the opportunities lie. The market will always expose certain opportunities, we just have to be humble and be responsive enough to take advantage of said opportunities. We will go deeper into neuro-marketing which is a new trend taken by innovative industry leaders, which really is fancy academic speak for understanding what are the psychological, emotional and physical factors that trigger peoples buying decisions. We live in the age of the internet of things but there is still a Digital divide in our region preventing mass adoption. For the industry to take off, we see our role expanding to include: education, advocacy and legislation to make it easier for people to have access and learn how to use digital media properly. I think that digital literacy should be part of the primary school curriculum to formalize and institutionalize the use technology in the formative years.

Dazzle: What’s next for you professionally?

Leslie: There have been many requests to do speaking and lecturing. Currently I am an adjunct lecturer for Social media and marketing at couple tertiary education providers. And despite not being rich, I’d like to go into philanthropy. There are so many critical social needs in our society that if each one uses our resources, networks and talent to up a worthy cause it would help. Not to mention the immense sense of personal gratification we would feel.

Dazzle: What advice would you give people wishing to enter the industry?

Leslie: Learn. This is one of the easiest industries to enter, with little barriers to entry, but make no mistake It is a science. You need to understand that marketing and technology evolves and it changes constantly. You must take time to invest in yourself and learn before you become obsolete. Do more listening than talking. Be present and understand what is going on around you politically, socially, legally. Stay humble. I always tell young people “Be a king in your mind but work like a servant.” Don’t sacrifice your self-worth. Don’t stop working hard. Don’t be quick to dismiss.

fun facts

Favorite basketball team?

Of all time, 96-96 Chicago Bulls. Presently, San Antonio Spurs.

Black or blue ink pen?

Black.

Favorite food?

Mother’s baked chicken. You won’t understand until you try it!

Favorite vacation spot?

Malaysia. Then other Caribbean islands, we have so much beauty, culture and history in our region

Gmail or Hotmail?

Gmail.

Air or sea travel?

Air.