Flipbook-test-Marketing_Australia__August-September_2017

Finding a team the values of which align will be boys’ antics through to commit-
with your company’s is a whole lot easier ting serious crimes resulting in prison
when they don’t have players on their books sentences. Finding a team the values of
who are more famous for their appearances which align with your company’s is a
in front of a judge than on the pitch. whole lot easier when they don’t have
players on their books who are more
famous for their appearances in front of
a judge than on the pitch,” she says.

@marketingmag “Those are numbers that just about any sporting league Prospects
in Australia would kill for,” says Ashleigh Hall, director of
media at Atomic 212. At present, Accenture views investment in women’s sport as a
start-up opportunity for entrepreneurs – showing potential,
Dinsdale mentions professional cricket – with its pay but still in need of more robust financial investment, with
upgrade for top-level players – as an organisation begin- plenty of opportunity for the right brands to get in early.
ning to invest in its women’s competitions.
“Those interested in accelerating women’s sport need
“They’re clearly paying ahead of the curve,” he says, to lean in with a start-up attitude toward investment and
“compensating women players more than the quote ‘pure expected return,” it says.
commercial value in relative terms’ that the women’s games
are getting. For AFL, NRL, cricket and other traditionally male
codes, this includes an acknowledgement that the “core
“That’s to be enormously commended,” he says, “having metric is growth before revenue,” says the report.
the guts to get out in front of that curve and think like an
entrepreneur.” “Measures of near-term success will be different from
men’s codes in the beginning.
Accenture’s ‘State of Play’ report contends barriers and
opportunities begin at the grass roots. Improving pathways “Metrics of engagement, excitement, interaction and repu-
to success in sport will pave the way for future generations tation across participants and supporters at all levels – both
of women, increasing the appeal, fan base and commercial men and women – will be the guideposts in the near-term.
opportunities in tow. As pathways improve, “the level of
competition will increase, fans and supporters of all kinds “More investment will be required with less immediate
will activate and engage, and elite coaches will look across return. It’s the long game that needs to be played.”
codes to attract the best players to their sport, creating a
vibrant marketplace for talent. Hall compares the opportunities at hand to Australian
men’s cricket before Kerry Packer came along.
“Media and sponsorship avenues will broaden,
providing exposure and increased capital not only for the “People often reflect on how different cricket was before
codes but for the athletes themselves,” says the report. Kerry Packer got involved,” she says. “There’s just so much
money in sport content, it’s crazy that there was a time when
Not only does women’s sport present attractive and – for so much of it just went begging, and that’s exactly what
the meantime – more affordable opportunities for sponsor people are going to think about women’s sport in just a few
brands, Ashleigh Hall says it’s a more secure bet in terms of short years.”
brand safety.
“Women in sport is not just an Australian thing,” says
Women’s leagues carry next to no mainstream media Dinsdale. “I’ve lived in many countries, and it seems like
baggage, she says. women are very engaged in sport here. The Australian ethos
is so much around sport. It’s kind of the language of Australia.
“Week in, week out, an NRL or AFL player is on the front
pages of the paper for any number of issues, ranging from ‘boys “There’s so much opportunity for Australia to really
lead this transformation.”

THE CULTURE ISSUE

52 INTERVIEW

The global Village

Marketing speaks with Mohit Bhargava Village Cinemas’ general manager, sales
and marketing, about its VIndianCinema project and how understanding and
embracing diversity delights consumers and delivers business results.

marketingmag.com.au

A ccording to census data, more than a tracking these trends, the brand has been able to observe
quarter of the Australian population was the changing face of the Australian consumer.
born overseas. Village Cinemas saw this as
an opportunity, and developed customer Two projects in particular – VIndianCinema and
engagement strategies to please a variety VCineAsia – were developed to help Village tap and
of segments. The results have been impressive so far. understand two burgeoning markets.

Cinema is a mass market category and Village Talking to Bhargava, it becomes clear that these
Cinemas considers itself a ‘mass market brand’. Ticketing projects are about much more than simply adding a
and admissions, therefore, are a “great barometer few world movies to the screening schedule. Village has
of the overall population at large” and its habits and invested significantly in understanding its diverse range
preferences, says Mohit Bhargava, general manager sales of patrons: how, when and why they go to the movies,
and marketing at Village Cinemas Australia. Through their ticketing and viewing consumer journey, and what
the ideal cinema-going experience looks like to them.

MARKETING AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2017

INDIAN CINEMA And in the case of Indian cinema at Village, ‘family

VIndianCinema, also known as the Village Cinemas occasion’ doesn’t just mean mum, dad and the kids.

Bollywood project, has undergone a few changes “It’s multigenerational,” says Bhargava.

in approach as a deeper understanding of its target “Grandparents, parents and grandkids all go to the

consumers has developed. It was first a matter of movies together.”

understanding Indian film, and how it differs to The statistics back this up. The average number

mainstream western cinema. Indian films, says Bhargava of tickets per transaction for Indian films is noticeably

“carry some common themes and stereotypes”. higher than for Hollywood releases.

“There tends to be a romantic theme, they are quite The segment also appears to be ahead of the curve

long and they normally have a dedicated music score,” he in terms of purchasing tickets via mobile devices. “They

says. So when Village began previewing the content, its have a higher propensity for mobile commerce than the

original view was that it would best cater towards a ‘date rest of the population,” says Bhargava. For that reason,

night’ type adult market demographic. Village is “more aggressive” with Indian film ticket sales in

“Our retail strategy inherently stemmed from that,” terms of mobile marketing and visual merchandising on

Bhargava recalls. “We were targeting adults and ‘girls handheld devices.

night out’ programs and the like.” Perhaps due to the larger amounts of tickets being

From a retail standpoint, however, it was not bought per transaction, consumers of Indian films are

@marketingmag resonating very well with audiences. Taking a closer look, “extremely price-conscious,” he says, which makes trying

to better understand how consumers were enjoying the to provide savings and promotions to these viewers a key

movies, led to some significant learnings. component of the strategy, too.

“We spent some time working with the consumer “The percentage of customers redeeming discount

group,” he says, “and understanding their cinema-going coupons and vouchers on Indian films is among the

patterns. There were some significant outliers that were highest of any genre,” he explains. “That has led us

initially a surprise, but then started to make sense.” to actually thinking about a concentrated approach as

The chief realisation from speaking with Indian film to how we address price as a consideration point for

this segment.”

The program comes with a few

We’re basically talking about a challenges, for which Village must
fundamental shift in the consumer strategise to find the best way to
landscape where a significant percentage fit the Indian cinema experience
of the overall market is represented by into Australian theatres. Bollywood
films are typically longer than those

first generation migrants. developed in the West, for example,
meaning fewer screening times per

theatre per day, which naturally

consumers was that, for them, going to the movies is lessens ticket sale totals.

an “absolute family occasion… the genre and theme of Observation of the demographic revealed another

content is somewhat irrelevant”. helpful outlier. “The Indian consumer market is not too

This is quite different to the way people produce and opposed to coming to watch late night sessions,” says

consume Hollywood genre films, where very obvious Bhargava. “On weekdays as well. That’s one way of

links can be seen between films targeted to certain combatting the run-time of these films.”

demographics, and the people who actually go to see Village has, says Bhargava, been working with

them – certain films specifically target seniors, others world cinema for a number of years. The evolution into

target younger adults, and further genre specifics projects such as VIndianCinema and VCineAsia has

segment males and females, teens, families and children. been the result of an increasingly diverse Australian

Overall, Bollywood doesn’t produce a lot of animated population. “We’re no longer talking about something

content or movies that specifically target children. that is an isolated niche,” he says. “We’re basically talking

THE CULTURE ISSUE

54 INTERVIEW

about a fundamental shift in the consumer landscape, “Hollywood is facing a changing population matrix, marketingmag.com.au
where a significant percentage of the overall market is both domestically and internationally,” he says. “The
represented by first generation migrants.” generation to follow Millennials will be the first ‘majority-
minority’ group in US history.” That is, people who refer
It’s not just changing the face of the cinema industry. to themselves as being from a minority group or mixed
“Australian businesses have to work towards evolving race. This is changing the make-up of the customers that
their entire offering to cater to a multicultural audience.” drive box office worldwide and, in turn, the focus and
themes of the movies themselves to ensure they speak to
Bhargava believes the true potential business a diverse audience.”
benefit of a diversifying population stretches beyond
simply selling more tickets to new market segments. The success of the VIndianCinema program is evident
The challenge is to find that “fine balance between in ticket sale performance and a delighted customer
segmentation and creating divides”. segment.

“The strategy that we’re deploying is not about a Last year, says Bhargava, Village Cinemas aired 79
segment that lives in isolation to the rest of our business. Indian films in multiple languages and various locations.
The films were attended by 230,000 guests in Victoria
The strategy we’re deploying alone. For comparison, Village airs about 250 different
is not about a segment that Hollywood films each year.
lives in isolation to the rest
of our business. This is about Certain locations perform better than others. In
segmentation that will lead to Melbourne’s western suburb of Sunshine – one of
cross-pollination of customers Village’s largest venues in terms of the number of screens
and content. – VIndianCinema content makes up 30 to 35 percent of
the venue’s revenue.
This is about segmentation, which will lead to cross-
pollination of customers and content,” he says. It’s growing rapidly. Bhargava describes it as “the
fastest growing content genre in the country by a mile”.
It’s working, too. Not only does Australia’s immigrant
population seem to be turning out in great numbers Yearly, the Australian cinema box office grows by
to international films, they’re attending more English roughly 3%. “But Indian cinema within that has grown at a
language films too. rate of north of 20% year-on-year for the last three years
and is showing no signs of slowing down,” says Bhargava.
“What we see from this consumer is that their average
cinema-going frequency tends to be higher as a bilingual This project and others from Village is part of its
consumer of content, compared to somebody that is just ‘where movies mean more’ brand position. The brand is
consuming content in one language.” reaching out in a number of different directions to build a
world of movie experiences. It’s also recently introduced
Village Cinemas is reaping the benefits of a Australia’s first cinema for kids: VJunior. There are slightly
consumer engagement strategy that embraces Australia’s older favourites like the upmarket Gold Class experience
multicultural population, and it’s not alone. and Cinema Europa for Seniors and connoisseurs of
classic film, and the soon to be introduced ‘40X’, which
“I could speak for the entire entertainment industry,” will be a “sensory cinema experience,” says Bhargava.
Bhargava says. “The same could be said about various
sporting codes that are looking at multicultural strategies It’s all about keeping the cinema experience relevant
to attract customers, members and players that are not in a world where people can consume film content
necessarily born into the sport or the code.” wherever they like. Movies are available everywhere
now,” Bhargava says, “from your mobile phone, your iPad,
Multiculturalism is a global phenomenon, not just your TV at home.”
touching Australia but Hollywood, too.
The challenge for Village is to continue to offer a more
Bhargava expects trends there to drive changes in meaningful experience for those who go to the movies.
what’s considered mainstream Western cinema.
This “resonates really well,” he says, “particularly with
the Indian audience. They love cinema, they love it as a
family occasion, and they see that meaning.”

MARKETING AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2017

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56 CONTENT PARTNER: FORRESTER

Five steps for making your
culture more customer-centric

Samuel Stern and Tom Champion talk you through

how to lead and manage the cultural change required to TomChampion, Samuel Stern,

senior analyst, Forrester principal analyst,

see your organisation embrace customer-centricity. Forrester

I t’s rare for executives to go on record to say that = reinforce customer-centric behaviours through marketingmag.com.auv
treating customers well is the wrong thing to
do. Most think that customer-centricity is both routines, celebrations, and rewards aligned to the
common sense and something they already do. company’s CX metrics.
However, in reality, as Forrester’s ‘Customer
Experience Index’ data show, most of these brands fail to SUCCESSFUL CULTURAL TRANSFORMATIONS
deliver experiences that customers value. START WITH THESE FIVE STEPS

According to our 2016 data, Australian customers said Successful culture transformations clear through the fog
that the CX (customer experience) of 76% of the brands by starting with five essential steps that make a compelling
they interacted with was just ‘OK’, and none of the brands case for change, and they provide guidance for how to be
in Australia even made it into the ‘excellent’ category. customer-centric in ways that customers will appreciate.

Customer-centric cultures matter because they enable In the first year of a successful culture transformation,
companies to deliver great experiences by default and companies must:
resist forces that may degrade the experience. In addition,
because transforming a culture is so difficult, firms that do = Develop a clear ‘why’ for the culture transformation: A
manage to transform their cultures will enjoy a competitive
advantage for years. Forrester defines the culture crisp statement of purpose for the culture transformation
competency within the CX discipline as: is an insurance policy against the inevitable setbacks
that every customer-centric culture transformation
“Creating a system of shared values and behaviours that encounters. The ‘why’ must draw a causal connection
focus employees on delivering great customer experiences.” between culture change and business success.

To develop their desired culture, companies need to = Secure executive support for leading the
establish two essential activities that will help create that
system of shared values and guide employees to adopt transformation: Every successful culture
customer-centric behaviours: transformation Forrester has studied had the full
support of senior executives. Long-term support from
= educate employees about their customers, the CX vision executives for the culture transformation depends on
their developing internal beliefs in its importance, and
and the employees’ roles in fulfilling that vision, and it’s best when led by the CEO.

“Without clear guidance, = Identify a set of shared values: Without clear guidance,
employees will interpret
customer-centricity in their employees will interpret customer-centricity in their
own way.” own way, leading to many conflicting definitions. The
shared values must be high-level enough to apply
across the organisation and be socialised by senior
executives. Base these values on the observed behaviour
of employees delivering great experiences today.

= Recognise and reward employees’ CX success

stories: In the early days of a culture transformation,
catching employees in the act of doing the right things
is a powerful force for change. It highlights that the

MARKETING AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2017

@marketingmag “Catching employees in Analogise organisational culture change to individual
the act of doing the right behaviour change. While the challenge of culture
things is a powerful force change is abstract and hard to internalise for individuals,
for change.” behaviour change is not. Culture changes are composed
of a collection of individuals changing their behaviours.
organisation already has bright spots to build on. It Employees can identify with the difficulty of personal
also shrinks the size of the change in the minds of behaviour change. In our lives, we have all tried to shed
employees when they see that their own behaviours, or bad behaviours like smoking or a poor diet and adopt good
those of their peers, are already customer-centric. behaviours like reading or regular exercise.

= Select key performance indicators of progress: Reinforce that the transformation will take at least
five years. Make sure that all employees, especially
Successful transformations take at least four to five executives, know that they are signing up for a long-term
years. Organisations need metrics to track their project. Customise the timeline to create your own version
progress. Existing customer and employee metrics like of a high-level roadmap that highlights major milestones
NPS (Net Promoter Score) or employee engagement are
not the best fit. They are lagging indicators of progress. of the transformation. Be transparent
Organisations need metrics that are both leading about which metrics should be
indicators of change and more fine-grained than used to gauge the success of the
benchmark relationship surveys. transformation and what degree of
improvement you’re looking for in
MANAGE ORGANISATIONAL EXPECTATIONS those metrics.
FOR THE PACE OF CULTURE CHANGE
Cite examples of companies that
Culture transformations are hard, and they take a long have transformed their cultures.
time. Companies will find success more likely if they set Finally, provide hope to your
reasonable expectations for the difficult road ahead and the colleagues that achieving customer
pace of change. To do that, CX leaders should: centricity is possible. Organisations
in Australia like Service NSW, CBA,
Deloitte, Kmart, Telstra and Aurecon
have pulled off transformation.
Their examples push back against
sceptics who point to companies like
Shoes of Prey, REA Group or ING
Direct, and assert that if you don’t
start out as a customer-obsessed organisation there’s no
hope. They’re also a reminder that transformation isn’t
reserved for global behemoths like Apple and Amazon.
Transforming organisational culture to be customer-
centric isn’t easy, but that just means that transformation
success provides a defensible competitive advantage for a
long time.
The five steps described above are just the beginning of
a successful culture transformation. Done well, however,
they provide a strong foundation for the next phase of
change: optimising the culture transformation by making
customer-centric behaviour adoption a probability, not
just a possibility.

Forrester is a Marketing Content Partner,
a leading organisation with which we
collaborate to bring exclusive content
to readers. Read more from Forrester analysts at
marketingmag.com.au

THE CULTURE ISSUE

58 SPONSORED CONTENT

The changing face of retail
customer experience

Marketing’s recent Dining Club event saw retail marketers come together to
share knowledge (as well as food and wine) on the maturity of their customer
experience strategies and how artificial intelligence is affecting them.

The lunch event was held in Sydney and attended see where they browse and what they ultimately purchase. marketingmag.com.au
by a group of senior retail marketers as well as Then we need someone to validate whether it was a right or
the Marketing team. Hosted in collaboration with wrong recommendation. And then we need to figure out if
email marketing experts Return Path, we were we can get enough samples to train the chatbot accurately.”
fortunate to have in attendance special guest
Matt Blumberg, CEO of Return Path, who founded the From an entertainment company’s point of view, digital
company almost 20 years ago. transformation is allowing for more centralised control
What we discovered is that, while businesses are at very over messaging and customer experience. One marketer
different and distinct phases of their customer experience wonders how chatbots will cope in industries that are more
strategies, data and talent are primary determining emotional than transactional. “We need to start growing
factors. Artificial intelligence (AI) is adding a new layer of direct relationships with all our fans now because it’ll be
complexity, but also opportunity. a completely different world in a few years. That’s where
For many retailers, online and off, the primary behavioural information is going to be able to help us
barometer of customer experience is Net Promoter Score understand what to do, when and how.”
(NPS). “We do a reasonable job of getting a feedback loop,”
says one large online retailer. “We send NPS surveys out The emotional connection of fans and patrons to
to every customer and we get a 28% response rate, which I brands in the arts, sports or entertainment means due
know is extremely high for NPS. Every detractor gets a call consideration must be given to how the customer experience
within three days. That’s a very manual process — we have plays out. According to one sports marketer present, 70% of
about six people on the team calling people constantly.” 28-year-olds, who you might think would interact purely
One of the many ways AI technology is contributing online, still do everything on the phone. For membership
to how brands and customers interact is through chatbots. organisations, it seems, where customers feel part of a family,
Most of our lunch guests, and many B2C brands in general, they are more likely to want to speak with a real person.
will implement a chatbot of some description in the new
financial year. A choice they all face is between a custom- “I think what’s really interesting about AI and chatbots
built solution and an off-the-shelf one. is that a lot of the communication we get from fans is very
“We often default to building our own solutions,” says emotive,” our sports marketer says. “The product is an
our pure play online retailer. “Think of what could possibly emotional product, a loyalty product, so I’m curious to see
happen in a chat... One, someone asks a general question how AI technology can handle that.”
so you can give a general answer. Google is very good at
that because it’s not ‘money time’. But, two, when someone Chatbots, however, are certainly not the whole story.
asks a very specific question about a product, the answer There’s one digital communications channel that has stood
is either right or wrong – there’s no grey area. So I don’t the test of time and seen off threats for decades: email.
know if we can use an off-the-shelf one because we have to
scan the chats, see if the person has mentioned any URLs or “My experience with email started in 1997,” says Return
words or model numbers, then add the metadata and wait to Path's Matt Blumberg. “Email has always been viewed
as powerful, as free… and as about to die. What I think is
interesting is not just that it’s not dead, it’s that email has
figured out how to participate in every other major trend in
computing, with consumers and with marketing. What’s the
first thing you do when you sign up for a social account? Put

MARKETING AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2017

@marketingmag in your email address. Who is the biggest commercial sender analytics is how data is structured for AI algorithms.
of email on the planet? Facebook. Email has figured out how “I’m very good at amassing data,” notes one ecommerce
to find its way into social.
marketer. “But as we push data in we need to structure it in a
“The next thing that came along that was going to kill very different way, so transforming that data is a challenge.
email was mobile. Email is the number one application on Depending on what you’re trying to predict finally, the data
every phone. Mobile has fuelled the growth of email. It’s can be structured as numeric, categorical or something else.
changed usage a little bit, but it’s found its place. That is very different to how web analytics store everything
inside a log. I need to learn how to better filter the data and
“The other thing we’ve found particularly interesting is structure it, so it’s better for predictive models. Otherwise,
that the volume of email, generally, is going up everywhere, it’s garbage in, garbage out.”
especially for transactional messages. Email has become
the repository of choice for transactional messages such as At a very different stage of data maturity was a guest
receipts, shipping confirmation or abandoned cart messages.” from the culture and entertainment sector. “We’re building
a data warehouse from scratch,” she says. “We’ve got huge
Email’s next job? Get smarter. amounts of data, but they’re all disparate, so right now
“Everyone is different in terms of when they want to we’re stuck in arguments about the algorithm to try and
match and merge contacts from 17 different sources, eight of
“Everyone is different… which start outside of our world.”
That’s where machine
learning comes in because Regardless of maturity level, the common trend is
for anyone to optimise that the acceleration of talent acquisition. “We currently have
manually is impossible.” two quants — we have a neuroscientist that helps with the
execution of what resonates, and myself in data,” says our
receive things, how often they want to receive things and ecommerce pro. “We also have 26 people in IT and we’re
what they want to receive, too,” says Blumberg. “And that going to hire another 28. In the new financial year, we’re
changes. That’s where machine learning comes in because really ramping things up.”
for anyone to optimise that manually is impossible. There
are some things that you can optimise pretty easily. There For another ecommerce company, being international
are some things you can optimise on very simple, in-the- comes with pros and cons. Innovation from a group level
moment behavioural things. You can serve up different is a great thing, but when it comes to day-to-day data
images in an email based on the time of day someone opens management, it can slow things down. “We’ve now got an
in it, or the location of the device that’s opening it, whether internal data warehouse team in Australia and a large team
it’s a mobile device or not. overseas. In the Sydney team, we have two data warehouse
engineers and two data scientists. We’ve just appointed a
“I wouldn’t classify any of that as artificial intelligence, new head of Loyalty, and CRM technology comes off that
but when you’re trying to predict something that may department, too.
happen in the future, that requires a more sophisticated
level of data science,” Blumberg says. “We have a product “Where we are using machine learning we’re doing
that’s coming out this year that tackles send frequency so through an external hub. It’s a platform that we
optimisation. It is doing a pretty good job of giving can use ourselves, but it’s also supported by external
subscriber-level weekly frequency recommendations. consultants. We use it for various reasons, such as
What that’s basically predicting is the message before the making sure we get the right offer to the right people and
message where you tune out, complain or unsubscribe.” product recommendations through our site or through
communications.”
When developing the tool, Blumberg says the team
went out to a significant number of our clients to ask how Whether you refer to it as artificial intelligence,
many of them were doing something like this in-house. machine learning or predictive analytics, this new phase
Many said they had tried to but couldn’t, because they of data science is impacting on the core tools in a digital
didn’t have the talent, the time or enough data to make it marketer’s belt. While it definitely isn’t simple, it does
happen. As a phase of data analytics, AI is a distinct beast. promise to reveal a new face of customer experience.
One key challenge for data scientists working on predictive
Marketing would like to thank Return
Path for co-hosting this event. For more
information from the experts in email
deliverability, visit returnpath.com

THE CULTURE ISSUE

Jemma Wong’s
top five pre-game
pump-up songs

1: ‘Run the World
(Girls)’ – Beyoncé

2: Just one, every
time. See above.

61 PROFILE

A league of her own

Find out what makes one of Australia’s brightest marketing minds tick.
Meet Jemma Wong, head of audience growth at the AFL and the woman
behind the game-changing brand, AFL Women’s. Wong brings energy and

a refreshingly modern view of branding to every role she has tackled.
(OK, that’s enough sports puns for now.) By Michelle Keomany.

@marketingmag J emma Wong describes She’s not just they all have a role to play in driving
herself as a brand story- thinking about culture and meaning.”
teller and you can tell the next season,
from the way she speaks but what the Wong is head of audience growth
that this is how she AFL’s story will at the AFL – overseeing AFL, AFL
approaches all aspects of her role. Her Women’s and all new marketing
tone is infectiously positive, yet also opportunities for the league. She’s not
realistic. In 2015, Wong won the pres- just thinking about the next season, but
what the AFL’s story will be in 2030 and

tigious Cannes Young Lion Award be in 2030 and even 2050. Wong is truly excited and
for Marketing, in 2016 she was an even 2050. passionate when she talks about her
ADMA Young Marketer of the Year role. She sees the bigger picture of what
finalist and, most recently, she was sport represents within our society and

named the Mumbrella Awards Under that she needs to literally stay ahead of

30 Achiever of the Year. Wong is the the game to continue to succeed.

perfect example of someone who can move seamlessly with “Sport is never uniform, performance on field can be unpre-

business changes and demands. “More and more you’re dictable, which means your strategy needs to be nimble and

seeing businesses invest in or build corporate accelerators constantly move at pace. It forces you to market with fresh

and work with start-ups,” she says. “That’s having a huge eyes, every time,” Wong says.

impact on the way we market, move at pace and design for So how did a girl from Western Sydney who knew

growth.” It’s now the role of the marketer to drive brand nothing about AFL end up redefining a sacred Victorian

change and break the traditional structure of marketing. sport? After moving to Melbourne for love, Wong says that

She has always been drawn to the entertainment, sport she was actually approached a few times for the role, but

and the arts industries. “I love these industries because they what eventually won her over was speaking to the general

showcase modern storytelling of the human condition,” manager. “I said, ‘I don’t see myself reflected in your brand or

she says. “I’ve tended to work for cultural institutions – your workforce and I just don’t see myself fitting in here or

City of Sydney, Sydney Opera House, The Australian Ballet thriving here,’ and he said, ‘That’s exactly why we need you’. I

and now the AFL – that have an appetite to grow, evolve and thought ‘Yeah, actually, that is exactly why you need me.’

set the future agenda for culture or sport in this country. It’s “They do some pretty incredible things here, they have

about unpacking their history and their unique DNA and the willingness to change, the willingness to build and the

helping them make sense of it in a new world order. Because willingness to grow. They were ready at the right time.”

THE CULTURE ISSUE

62 PROFILE

It’s this readiness for change and Career timeline the balance right. The right balance of
innovation on the business’ side that crafting a story that was respectful of

isn’t usually given enough credit. It’s a FEBRUARY 2017 – PRESENT the 150 years of history and legacy and

common mistake to hire the best and Head of audience growth, AFL the DNA of our game, but that also had
brightest talent, but without nurturing this open space for difference. That

change and innovation throughout OCTOBER 2015 – was really, really challenging.”

an entire organisation, only so much FEBRUARY 2017 At the end of the day, it’s these

can be achieved. Launching such Marketing manager/ types of challenges that drive Wong
an ambitious new brand was always new audience lead, AFL to succeed. “It’s a bloody marketer’s
going to have its challenges. The AFL dream to bring about brand change

is an organisation the sole purpose of APRIL 2014 – OCTOBER 2015 – it’s what we fight for and what we

which – up until now – was to put on Senior marketing manager, work for. So to have the opportunity

six months of football a year. Shifting The Australian Ballet to kick start a movement like this is
this structure was one of the biggest something I wasn’t going to let go of

hurdles that the women’s league had NOVEMBER 2013 – APRIL 2014 and I knew we had to do it right from

to overcome from the very beginning. Cricket Australia contract the outset.”

Wong says, “We were effectively NOVEMBER 2012 – An all-new league needed
building a new league and a new an all-new marketing approach.

vision and chasing the audiences in SEPTEMBER 2013 It’s inspiring to hear how Wong

about a six- to 12-month time-frame – Bauer Media, Q Media sales approached this mammoth task. This

very much with a start-up mentality. and marketing role contract was so much more than a new ad

That was a pretty big challenge for my JANUARY 2011 – campaign or product launch; she was marketingmag.com.au
team and me, but so was the fact that responsible for setting a new stan-

there were also a lot of unknowns. To SEPTEMBER 2012 dard for women in sport and reaching

be really honest with you, there still Marketing manager, Sydney an uncharted audience through

are: we were making the invisible Opera House new media.
visible for the very first time.” “It was looking at the game

For someone who was completely JANUARY 2007 – through an authentic female lens for

new to AFL, Wong speaks very DECEMBER 2010 the very first time. Perspective and

respectfully and with an instinctual Marketing communications perception was where we had to start.

understanding of the history of the officer, City of Sydney How do we start to rewrite a narra-
game and everyone involved, from her tive around women in our game and

co-workers, players and fans, to the women in sport? And if we did that

future fans and players. She’s incred- right the rest would follow.”

ibly aware of how the game touches so many Australians in She goes on to say that, rather than taking a

so many different ways and how important the role she has traditional sports view, it was about looking at

is in shaping its narrative. the product through a more inclusive, female view. “For

Wong speaks about how it felt at the beginning and what the first time, women actually needed to have authority

she had to do. “Our expectations were really high for spon- and ownership of the game in a way that they hadn’t

sors, and fans and the playing group as well, so we had to had before.”

work really closely with them to help create something for But this was just the tip of the iceberg. “We built out

the very first time and hoped – fingers crossed – that we got this whole story, a positioning and narrative, around giving

empowerment and ownership back to women to create

our future.”

It’s a bloody marketer’s Wong describes how they were conscious of fostering a
dream to bring about different way of marketing in order to do their vision justice.
A way that was about collaboration over instruction and

brand change – it’s what nurturing a master story of women as fierce leaders doing
we fight for and what we the impossible and taking the game to new heights. And
work for. because a lot of their content focused on giving visibility to
the female faces, voices and players of the game, who better
to collaborate with than female screenwriters, writers,

MARKETING AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2017

directors and photographers? Jemma Wong busts five
It’s genuinely moving to hear Wong recount what it was myths about working
like at Princes Park at the inaugural AFLW game between in sport.
Collingwood and Carlton on 3 February 2017. Wong says,
“I remember sitting there with my laptop at the field with MYTH 1: You need to grow up with the game or play
rehearsals going on around me and it was 1pm and I was the game in order to have an edge.
bashing out so much stuff and then at 3pm out of the corner
of my eye I was like, ‘Oh I think there are some people outside MYTH 2: We kick a footy around all day.
the gate, that’s a bit strange, they’re getting here really early.’
And then at 5pm when the gates open they started to flood in MYTH 3: We work five days a week – sorry, our
and then at 6pm they were still flooding in. It just kept going.” workforce is always on and covering matches.

There was a capacity crowd of 24,500 at the 20,000- MYTH 4: It’s mostly men working here – there
seater stadium and it was necessary to enforce a lockout to are phenomenal women inside this business and
manage the thousands who came out to witness history in the industry.
making. “I remember turning around to the head of female
football... I just grabbed him and said, ‘Josh, this is happening, MYTH 5: We have total ownership – sport has its own
everything we thought of, everything we wanted, the whole ecosystem: there are channels you don’t control,
vision to build a cultural movement – this is happening!’ leagues and stakeholders from the grassroots level
And then the announcement came out that we were hitting all the way to the elite game, that are integral to
capacity and we were on lockout and there were 2500 people keeping the world of sport alive and thriving.
outside the ground. I can’t even tell you how that felt – I burst
@marketingmag into tears. It was such a moment for everyone in the whole
bloody industry. It was just unbelievable.”

While Wong is making a name for herself as a woman in

Jemma Wong’s top five For the first time,
tips for marketers who women actually needed
want to understand the to have authority and
sporting industry and its ownership of the game in
audiences better a way which they hadn’t
had before.
= Think outside your category, tap into the ‘wisdom of
sports marketing, she’s not alone. She’s just one of the great
the crowd’, examples of how inclusive the industry is. “It’s amazing once
you step into it, how inclusive and how ready they are to
= invest in unique branding – don’t let a ‘PC’ mentality wrap their arms around you,” Wong says.

water down your brand, “There are phenomenal women working inside AFL
and the broader industry – women who are leading in their
= challenge the narrative, challenge who the ‘hero’ is areas and are driving the culture and agenda of the business,
it’s awesome to see. In sport, you’re dealing with a predomi-
in your hero journey, nantly masculine product… so it’s important to take the
time to provide context for the female economy inside your
= build a strategy for engaging and driving advocacy organisation.”

for female audiences and more diverse audiences of She’s excited that this is really only the beginning of
the next generation, and what they can achieve. What gives Jemma Wong confidence
is that change is truly happening – there are more women in
= don’t confuse audience passion with brand success every role, playing the game, in administration, in coaching,

– sport is an incredible platform to advocate for
change, so look at what you’re saying and elevate
beyond what fans see in a stadium.

THE CULTURE ISSUE





66 CASE STUDY

Eat
local

Background: In response to the Project Our KPIs included: marketingmag.com.au
Australia hosts
growing global demand for food The World’s 50 - TA and/or Australia as host
and wine experiences, Tourism Best Restaurants
Australia’s ‘There’s nothing like 2017 Awards destination referenced in 80%
Australia’ campaign put the spotlight of all coverage around the
on Australian produce served in (a phase of campaign,
stunning locations. ‘Restaurant
Australia’) - 90% success rate of securing
In 2014 we launched the
latest evolution of ‘There’s nothing Brand stories outlined in the media
like Australia’, with food and wine Tourism Australia matrix and PR plan,
experiences from around the
country playing a starring role. The $1 billion by June 2018 (a growth - minimum of 15 international
campaign was based on the idea of of 10% each year off a base of
Australia being the world’s greatest $500 million in 2016), chefs from TA’s target markets
restaurant, ‘Restaurant Australia’. agreeing to participate in media
- continue to grow global and content opportunities to
To solidify Australia’s position promote Australia,
as a must-visit gastronomic tourism awareness of Australia’s food
destination, Tourism Australia (TA) and wine offering, driven by - minimum equivalent advertising
needed to build on the momentum advocacy from the world’s top
created by the first two phases culinary personalities, value (EAV) of $40 million for
of ‘Restaurant Australia’ – the mentions of Australia in relation
highly successful Invite the World - position TA as a leader in the to the campaign,
To Dinner event (2015) and the
Noma Australia pop-up (2016), culinary and travel space, - minimum 15 chefs from The
TA's sponsorship of The World’s 50
Best Restaurants 2017 provided - generate international media World’s 50 Best Restaurants
an opportunity to bring the world’s for 2017 to participate in
most influential food and wine coverage about Australia as a famil programs,
people to Australia to inspire, food destination by bringing
inform and earn their advocacy of influential food and wine - all 26 Academy Chairs to
Australia’s food and wine scene. media to Australia to attend,
write, broadcast and blog participate in famils hosted
Objectives: about The World’s 50 Best by TA and the state tourism
- Contribute to the ‘Restaurant Restaurants Awards, organisations, and

Australia’ campaign goals: - create a platform for all eight - secure up to 30 targeted
improve perception of Australia
as a food and wine holiday states and territories, and the international media to attend the
destination by those who have not food and wine and tourism event and famil programs hosted
visited, and double the growth in industries, to create content, and by Tourism Australia and the
expenditure on food and wine to state tourism organisations.
- improve the overall presence
Strategy: The World’s 50 Best
and profile of Australian chefs
and restaurants. Restaurants Awards is the largest
celebration of global gastronomy
and brings together hundreds of
influential visionaries – including
chefs, sommeliers and high-profile
food media – from around the
world. The annual ceremony is
the most important event on the
culinary calendar, and provides an

MARKETING AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2017

Ben Shewry, Joan Roca,
Massimo Bottura, Daniel
Humm, Heston Blumenthal
- Higson Lane.

Martin Benn, Shannon
Bennett, Peter Gilmore,
Lennox Hastie, Analiese
Gregory, Jock Zonfrillo -

The Chefs' Feast.

2016 Great Aussie
Brunch - Neil Perry.

2016 Great Aussie Brunch
- Neil Perry, Peter Gilmore,
Dan Hunter, Ben Shewry.

@marketingmag annual ranking of the most exciting personalities, chefs, wine experts, contract, and negotiated additional
restaurants across the world. local producers and Friends of partnerships to support the program
Australia (TA’s ambassador program). including:
The World’s 50 Best Restaurants Events
approached TA to pitch for the Using the Awards as the focal point, - Official wine partner: Wine
opportunity for Australia to be we organised 11 events over eight
the host destination for the 2017 days to create media moments that Australia
Awards. We convinced them brought the destination message to
that Australia would be the best life. These included laneway murals, - Official state partner: Visit
destination for the Awards, making beach barbecues, rooftop yum
2017 only the second time that cha with an Aussie twist and many Victoria
the Awards had been held outside more. These provided talkability,
London in its 15-year history. encouraging visiting influencers - Official airline partner: Etihad
to post about their experiences on
Hosting the Awards would social media. The core event program Airways
provide a rare opportunity to for The World’s 50 Best Restaurants
showcase Australian produce, ran from 1 to 8 April 2017. - Official hotel partner: QT
people and places to a group of Content
highly influential individuals, and the Throughout the campaign, we Melbourne
opportunity to earn their advocacy for created hundreds of hours of video
Australian food and wine. This would content, tens of thousands of photos - Supporting hotel partner: Grand
have a ripple effect through their and hundreds of testimonials from
channels of influence, helping to push the visiting influencers on their trips Hyatt Melbourne
Australia as a culinary destination. to Australia, which were critical in
producing content for our earned Results: Showcasing Australia’s
The benefits of associating and owned channels.
‘Restaurant Australia’ with The World’s Famils food and wine culture, the events
50 Best Restaurants included: We designed and coordinated left a strong and lasting impression
over 250 itineraries with bespoke on the international audience of
- association with a leading experiences to create unique content chefs, restaurateurs, winemakers,
that showcased food and wine sommeliers and media, generating
gastronomic brand, experiences across Australia. positive results for tourism. As of
July 2017, we have succeeded in
- positioning of brands associated International media, chefs and achieving all our KPIs:
influencers were able to select their
with the Awards and List as leaders preferred dates, destinations and - Australia was referenced as the
in the culinary and travel space, experiences. The resulting famils
created exceptional content, such as host destination in 85% of all
- engagement with leading chefs drone footage of a lunch on Victoria’s coverage around The World’s 50
famous solid pink salt lake, wading Best Restaurants 2017,
and key food, travel and lifestyle through water to shuck oysters
media, in Tasmania, and the forests of - a 95% success rate of securing
Adelaide Hills.
- opportunity to leverage major stories outlined in our PR plan,
The famils also played a key role exceeding the target of 90% (a
international media coverage, in extending The Awards in Australia total of 4235 media articles with
as a national showcase, with an audience reach of 4.4 billion),
- a core event centrepiece for the exceptional culinary experiences
and quality product in all eight states - 25 international chefs took
food and wine event calendar, and and territories, beyond the Awards
events in Melbourne and Victoria. part in trips around Australia,
- cross-platform channels to both Strategic partnerships exceeding the target of 15,
As the host country, TA held
the trade and AB consumer the overarching sponsorship - $46 million in EAV has been
markets.
generated from the PR
Execution: To maximise our program, exceeding the target
of $40 million,
investment in The World’s 50 Best
Restaurants event program, TA ran - 75 international media were
an underpinning PR and advocacy
strategy: hosted, along with over 50
Advocacy domestic media and the
We chose a core group of food involvement of hundreds of local
and wine ambassadors to drive industry operators, and
earned media and advocate to our
target audience, including culinary - all 26 Academy Chairs

participated in famils hosted by
Tourism Australia and the state
tourism organisations.
Over 30 events were held by
the tourism industry throughout
Australia as a result of the project.

THE CULTURE ISSUE

70 CASE STUDY

How Jalna became
number one in the
yoghourt market

Campaign marketingmag.com.au
Various
Brand
Jalna
Agency

Grant Booker
Creative

Background: In 2008 Jalna Jalna formed a partnership with in a way that was relevant to today’s
creative director Grant Booker and consumer needs – pure Greek
yoghourt was seen as just another ex-Unilever marketing consultant yoghourt that was good for cooking
generic yoghourt brand and Geoff Wilson, who developed the and baking, Jalna’s Australian
therefore contained the same ‘pot set’ brand proposition for Jalna, provenance and a yoghourt so pure
sugar, colouring and preservatives which has seen consumers shift that even babies can eat it.
as its competitors. their behaviour in favour of the
premium brand. In other words: dial up what’s in
The opportunity was to position Jalna and where it’s from.
Jalna’s differentiated health benefits Objectives: For the launch of
in the fast growing health and well- We set out to build a loyal
being market. the brand, Grant Booker Creative following of devotees who would
was asked to bring the brand alive, trust our yoghourt. Brand awareness
Research conducted by highlight the health aspects of the and conversion were our principal
Christine Blackburn from West 82nd brand, establish its credentials as driving forces. The objective was to
highlighted the main driving forces ‘real yoghourt made the pot-set way,' make Jalna the number one pure
of the brand – a pot set yoghourt and create an emotional connection yoghourt in Australia and dominate
without any preservatives, colouring, with the consumer. the pure yoghourt sector.
starches, gelatine, added cane sugar
or artificial sweeteners. And one that In effect, the aim was to position Strategy: We didn’t want Jalna
tasted great. other mass produced brands as
artificial, and highlight the ‘no cane to be yet another dairy brand with
Jalna then created a unique sugar’ story – as sugar sets alarm cows, but rather have a company-
agency model of two to develop a bells off for conscious consumers. wide attitude, which was ‘purity.’
successful advertising campaign
that has seen the brand become In subsequent campaigns Jalna Consumers were assuming
the largest in the $1.06 billion needed to build on its purity story that Jalna was just another generic
yoghourt market. yoghourt and therefore contained

MARKETING AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2017

“In effect the aim
was to position other
mass produced
brands as artificial.”

“The ‘pot set’ story er yet another guilt trip
has resonated among she sought solace in a tub.
consumers and has
given us a distinct point Not of the bubble variety but a tub of Jalna yoghourt.
of difference in the
market.” With all natural ingredients and

DON’T MESS WITH low fat and fat free varieties,
MOTHER NATURE Jalna is one thing that won’t play on your
conscience.

We start with pure milk products,
add friendly cultures,

put the lid on and let nature do the rest.
And because it is set in its own
pot with no gelatine,

starches or food acids that taint many
mass-produced yoghourts,

you won’t find anything

to feel bad about.
All that’s left to do is enjoy

the simple goodness

of great tasting Jalna yoghourt,

guilt free.

Australian made.
Australian owned.

jalna.com.au

JALNA. A LITTLE POT OF PURITY

Australian made. Australian owned.

73 CASE STUDY

@marketingmag the same sugar, colouring and know what you’re eating is pure’ and an impressive 7.3% in the last
preservatives as its competitors. set about establishing the tagline quarter, well ahead of total market
‘Jalna. A little pot of purity’ to take the growth of 1.7%.
The opportunity was to position health and well-being high ground.
Jalna’s differentiated health benefits In volume, Jalna is up 4.5% year
in the fast growing health and well- Subsequent TV commercials on year, while the total market rose
being market. We took the health have featured babies to highlight the by 2.1% and, in the last quarter,
and well-being high ground. Our fact that Jalna is so pure even babies Jalna rose by 12.6%, while total
theme became: ‘At Jalna we don’t add can eat it – plus a campaign for the market volume was up 4.8%.
anything artificial, so you know what Jalna Greek variety featuring three
you’re eating is pure.’ generations of Greek women using Jalna’s brand awareness has
Jalna in cooking and baking. increased from 59% (July 2008) to
And the fact that it was ‘pot 75% (June 2016). Ad awareness has
set’ gave Jalna a unique point of A quirky print campaign increased from 2% (July 2008) to
difference from our competitors. highlighted the fact that Jalna 12% (June 2016).
can have some fun with the ‘pot
The brief was always to highlight set’ proposition. A fruit varieties In addition, Jalna’s main brand
the core message, the pot set story, campaign highlighted Jalna’s great yoghourt purchased most often has
regardless of any new message. taste without added cane sugar and increased from 8%(July 2008) to
Free-to-air and pay TV have been the most recent brand campaign 18% (June 2016). Sales and brand
the lead channels as Jalna is a mass tells the pot set story again in a more recognition have increased by 50%.
market FMCG marketer. Jalna also contemporary fashion.
uses women’s and food magazines, In our most recent brand
outdoor, online, mothers’ sites and The latest TV campaign features tracking, Jalna is now the most
social media to promote the brand. emojis for Jalna’s Sweet and Creamy recognised yoghourt in the category
Who are we talking to? range. The campaigns commenced and has the highest main brand
Our target audience is primarily in 2009 and have been rolled out share among consumers, overtaking
women who are aware of what they steadily for seven years. our key competitor.
eat and want a healthy nutritious
yoghourt that tastes great and is Results: The success of the The ‘pot set’ story has resonated
good for them and their family. among consumers and has given us
campaign has seen Jalna move to the a distinct point of difference in the
Second, to this are all yoghourt number one position in the yoghourt market. It has also created a loyal
eaters who are conscious about market (based on Aztec Data, Colmar following of devotees who wouldn’t
eating healthy food. Brunton quantitative brand and eat or trust any other yoghourt – in
communications tracking research, other words, Jalna is the trusted
Execution: The first TV campaign June 2016) with a 12.2% share in brand for natural yoghourt.
value (up from 11.6% year on year
introduced the theme ‘at Jalna we MAT, moving annual total) and up Brand awareness and conversion
don’t add anything artificial, so you have exceeded our targets, which
has left a sour taste in the mouths of
our rivals.

THE CULTURE ISSUE

74 CASE STUDY

The fight to ensure no
girl gets left behind

Campaign
Dr Kakenya Ntaiya March 2017 media tour

Client
The LBW Trust

Agency
Ogilvy PR Australia (comprising Pulse Communications)

Background: Women for the same time, to break the cycle of of Newsweek’s ‘150 Women Who marketingmag.com.au
destructive cultural practices such Shake the World’ in 2011. Her story
Change is a subcommittee of the as female genital mutilation (FGM) has been the subject of a Washington
LBW (Learning for a Better World) and early forced marriage. Post series, a BBC documentary and
Trust, which aims to support many magazine articles.
educational programs for young The LBW Trust’s work in
disadvantaged women, and to drive Australia is in two stages: Ntaiya founded the first school
positive, ongoing and scalable for girls in her Maasai community
change – not only to the women it - Stage 1: scholarship fundraising in Kenya. At a very young age, she
supports, but also their families dared to be bold, fought for her right
and their communities. structured around Ntaiya’s visit to to an education and, through her
Australia in March 2017 to raise journey, has given girls and women
Globally, 65 million girls do not funds to send her graduating permission to hope for a better life
attend school and, of those, 31 students to university, which can through education. She did not bring
million are of primary school age. be expensive in Nairobi. back a dozen cows, she brought
Seventeen million of these girls – one back funds to build a school and she
third – will probably never attend - Stage 2: a longer-term initiative set about creating the KCE.
school in their lifetimes. Of the 123
million young people between the to deliver enabled technology As the founder and president of
ages of 15 and 24 who cannot read and affordable mentoring to the the Kakenya Centre for Excellence, a
or write, 61% of them are women. graduating girls to assist them girls’ boarding school in Enoosaen,
There are 33 million fewer girls than with the transition from a rural Kenya, Ntaiya believes that education
boys in primary school. school to a busy city environment will empower and motivate young
when moving to university. girls to become agents of change in
To address this, the LBW Trust Ntaiya is hugely influential in their community and country.
is supporting the Kakenya Centre the international educational field.
for Excellence (KCE). The KCE is a She was honoured with the Global Dr Kakenya Ntaiya was in
registered charity in the Republic Women’s Rights Award from the Australia for one week (5 to 11 March
of Kenya and was founded by Dr Feminist Majority Foundation, was 2017) to create awareness for the
Kakenya Ntaiya in 2009 to empower recognised by Women in the World Kakenya Centre for Excellence, and
and motivate young girls through as a ‘Woman of Impact’ and named a also to deliver the keynote address at
education. It has two objectives: Top Ten CNN Hero. the National Press Club in Canberra,
encouraging young women to Ntaiya was also honoured with in celebration of International
become agents of change and, at a Vital Voices Global Leadership Woman’s Day (syndicated on ABC TV
Award in 2008 and as a National and Sky News).
Geographic Emerging Explorer in
2010. She was also named as one

MARKETING AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2017





77 CASE STUDY

@marketingmag Objectives: Twenty-six KCE ‘educate one girl and you educate an what this means from an Australian
entire community’. perspective.
alumni are due to graduate from
high school in 2017. As the girls We wanted to contain and, Media included:
selected are among the most where possible, limit the message of
vulnerable in the community, a FGM, which could be unpalatable to - Fairfax
university education and related some, and have a negative impact - News LTD
costs are out of reach for most of when pitching editorial to broader - ABC News 24
them and their families. Ntaiya audiences in the Australian mass - ABC Mornings with Wendy
wanted to use her visit to shore media. We also worked to align
up a Scholars Fund to ensure no Ntaiya’s story with the 2017 theme Harmer
girl gets left behind. Five thousand for International Women’s Day – ‘Be
dollars per student per academic Bold for Change’ –which Ntaiya said - ABC Lateline
year covers their university fees, was a motto of her life’s work. From - ABC The World (Radio National)
accommodation on campus in a the age of five she knew she had a - ABC Breakfast TV
girls’ dormitory, books, a computer, husband waiting for her, through to - Two Sky News interviews
living expenses, and transportation. trading FGM for her right to continue - SBS The Feed
her education. Her boldness shone - Sky News Business
It is expected that at least two through every story and, with a small - The Australian
of the graduating students will amount of media training, Ntaiya
receive a scholarship to study in was able to weave her story into a Note: All media interviews coincided
Australia with Western Sydney framework that echoed many of the with Ntaiya’s National Press Club
University leading the way offering a challenges women face in Australia. speech on International Woman’s Day
scholarship for one student in 2018. syndicated on the ABC and Sky News.
Execution:
Strategy: The LBW Trust Results:
Long lead pre-phase
contacted Ogilvy PR because it Our goal was to deliver an exclusive Media results
wanted to not only raise the funds interview with Dr Kakenya Ntaiya The campaign achieved an estimated
around Ntaiya’s Australian press in celebration of International audience reach of 31 million across
tour, but also raise the profile of the Women’s Week with the Sydney print, TV and online, including Good
LBW Trust in Australia. As a result, Morning Herald’s Good Weekend. Weekend, The Age, Canberra Times,
Ogilvy created the strategy around To gain local coverage, we worked WA Today, Brisbane Times, ABC
the theme of Ntaiya’s work being ‘the to the theme and vision of ‘the News 24, ABC Mornings with Wendy
power of education to change a life’. power of education to change a Harmer, ABC Lateline, ABC The World
This would also align with the goals life’ and what this means from an (Radio National), Sky News, SBS The
of the Trust and the global work it Australian perspective. Ogilvy PR Feed (Marc Fennell’s interview on
does in nine different countries, to engaged a Good Weekend journalist The Feed’s Facebook – which usually
assist more than 2500 children, to fly to Kenya for a week and have averages 60,000 views – has had over
women and men. Overall, Ogilvy PR exclusive access to the school, 2.4 million views since March), The
planned to reinforce the importance Ntaiya and the students. The cover Australian, News.com.au, Herald Sun,
of education as a way out of poverty story featured in Good Weekend on Courier Mail, Adelaide Advertiser,
for millions of girls globally, build Saturday 4 March, four days prior Perth Now, Northern Territory News
awareness of Ntaiya’s work in Kenya, to International Women’s Day. This and The Weekly Times.
the school, its unique mandate provided the perfect platform, and Project objective results:
on ‘no FGM or early childhood background, to launch the Australian
marriage’, which sees girls as young press tour phase and also Ntaiya’s - PM Malcolm Turnbull’s office
as 12 being cut and married, only National Press Club speech.
to give birth when they are 13 years Australian press tour phase asked for a meeting about what
old and drop out of school. Ntaiya gave press interviews for the Australian Government can
International Women’s Week across do to help the schools, and
Ogilvy PR decided to focus on the theming with the vision of ‘power
dialling up the education theme of education to change a life’ and - over 26 fully funded
across all Australian media outlets –
scholarships were raised
ensuring that not one graduating
student will be left behind. This
was an amazing achievement
and, in addition, 22 interested
guests were attracted to be
considered as global mentors.

THE CULTURE ISSUE

78 CASE STUDY

Come on in

Campaign
#ComeOnIn

Client
Sydney Opera House

Agency
DDB Sydney

Background: The Sydney Opera but put it off until after summer. Photos were turned into private marketingmag.com.au
We needed to encourage and sound checks with artists, acrobatic
House is a national icon; however, incentivise visitation. lessons with performers, behind the
as a business it competes for scenes tours, karaoke sing-alongs
visitors with other cultural and Strategy: With 8.2 million visitors and more.
entertainment venues. So during
summer, when Sydneysiders and annually, the Sydney Opera House The content we were able to
tourists love being outdoors, the is the most Instagrammed icon in curate through the experiences
challenge is even greater. Australia. From the outside it is an of the inside was re-shared on
icon that attracts millions. But most Instagram directly by invitees. In
Objectives: Ultimately, we needed people take photos of the outside turn, we used our invitees as a
and move on. channel to further extend the reach
to bring more visitors through the of our campaign from a grass-roots
doors of the Sydney Opera House in Our strategy was to turn this level. Experience by experience,
summer. problem into an opportunity, and picture by picture, we were able to
challenge the spectators to walk change perceptions of the Sydney
We broke this business objective through the doors. Opera House.
down to three communications
objectives: Execution: Our idea was to Results: Over four weeks, more

- Make the Sydney Opera House literally, personally and directly invite than five million people got to see
people to #comeonin to the Sydney the magic that goes on behind the
an iconic summer experience: Opera House. scenes inside the Sydney Opera
while the Opera House is a House and we landed over 17
national icon, it is not yet an For four weeks, we monitored million impressions.
iconic experience. We needed Instagram with a custom software
people to see the House as an application using computer vision Social media impressions: two
experience, not just a building. and geolocation all running on million (paid and organic), influencer
mobile devices. When someone impressions: 1.8 million, PR
- Democratise the House: many posted a photo of the Sydney Opera impressions: 13.9 million.
House from the outside, the mobile
people mistakenly feel that the response team shot and shared a Incredibly, all this came
Opera House is expensive and personalised response video in real from inviting 126 unsuspecting
inaccessible, not for people like time, inviting them to #comeonin for Instagrammers, who simply posted
them. We needed to welcome a money-can’t-buy experience. a photo of the Sydney Opera House,
people to ‘their house’. to #comeonin.

- Create urgency: many

Sydneysiders intend to visit,

MARKETING AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2017



80 CONTENT PARTNER: UNLTD

Five ways to nurture a Paul Fisher is
culture of giving CEO at UnLtd.

Creating a culture of giving at your organisation is a great
way to support a cause and build a team. Paul Fisher
has some tips on how to lead from the front.

S“ ervice to others is the rent you pay for your In the ‘Giving Australia’ 2016 report, one of the key marketingmag.com.au
room here on earth.” So said, reportedly, contributors of giving behaviours was identified as
Muhammad Ali. One way to pay our dues, so culture, specifically “culture, in the sense of shared
to speak, is to create a culture of giving. Giving norms and values, is an enduring motivator and shaper
tends to take many forms and often rolls up into of giving behaviour”.
one, or more, of three main buckets:
The report went on to list the top five reasons
Money – this can take the form of: philanthropists give:

= one-off donations, = a belief that giving can make a difference,
= regular giving: for example, sponsoring a child or a = a desire to give back to the community,
= a sense of personal satisfaction from giving,
workplace giving or payroll deductions system, = philosophical beliefs, and
= a desire to set an example.
= sponsorships: you sponsor your friend or colleague to
While many of us do not identify as philanthropists, in
ride in a charity bike ride, or truth anybody who gives, or has given, is a philanthropist.

= crowdfunding: you join a particular cause or project The report further cited, “Giving cultures are shaped
(by) the ‘democratisation’ of philanthropy, with a growing
to which you are inspired to donate money, along with emphasis on giving as being ‘everyone’s business’.”
others. Technology and our very own workplaces have combined
In Australia’s media industry, this also takes the form of with this emerging culture of wanting to give to enable us
more than 30 of our top media companies donating media all to give as little or as much, once-off or regularly, to the
inventory to our industry foundation, UnLtd. cause or causes we care about the most.
Time – this is often associated with unskilled
volunteering, for example clearing a garden, or painting And if you ever wanted further evidence that giving
a wall. can actually make you, the giver, happier, a 2008 study
Skills – together with time, which is often categorised by Harvard Business School professor Michael Norton
as skilled volunteering; for example, producing a corporate and colleagues found that giving money to someone
video or designing and developing a website for a charity, else lifted participants’ happiness more that spending it
often pro bono or low bono. on themselves!
So why do people give and how can we create a culture
of giving? So how do you create a giving culture? Here are my top
five tips.
One way to pay our dues,
so to speak, is to create a 1. ENGAGEMENT
culture of giving.
Engage your organisation, team and colleagues to find
out what they care about. Many of the corporate partners
I work with in my role at UnLtd survey their entire
organisations to identify the causes their staff most care
about and therefore most want to give to.

MARKETING AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2017

@marketingmag “Approach all of this are all-hands meetings where, not just the CEO or head
with outcomes in mind, of people and culture, but the ambassadors themselves
measure not just the are given a platform to share their stories. And if you
inputs and contributions, want to create the greatest impact on your entire team,
but showcase the impact invite the charity founder and, where appropriate, the
you create.” ultimate beneficiaries of your charitable and philanthropic
endeavours (unless it’s the orangutans of Borneo or the
Not surprisingly, these causes include the environment, Arctic ice shelf of course!).
animals, health, and children and young people, which in
our surveys top the list of causes employees care about and 4. EASE
want to support.
Provide easy, low-touch mechanics to donate money.
Anecdotally, employees feel engaged, that their view is Typically, this is done by engaging a workplace giving
important and that they have contributed to and influenced or payroll deductions platform – there are many, so shop
the causes chosen by their organisation to support. around. Research also shows that when the corporation
matches the donations of their employees – not
2. LEADERSHIP surprisingly – participation, average contributions per
head and total contributions all increase.
Create a social impact leadership group, and offer your
employees the opportunity to volunteer on that group. In terms of non-monetary contribution, more and more
Many of these groups take the form of corporate social corporations are offering staff one day a year, or in some
responsibility (CSR) committees, and are often driven cases more, to give to a charitable cause of their choosing.
by a champion, not always an executive. They are also The employer can also provide a suite of volunteering
often led by the HR or people and culture functions of the opportunities either via its own intranet or by partnering
organisation. A ‘sub-set’ of this group can be the creation with a commercially available technology platform that
of ambassadors who both represent the organisation and/ captures and presents various volunteering opportunities.
or their functional team out in the community while Tracking and displaying projects, causes and individual
also acting as an information conduit back into their employees’ contributions, and in some cases presenting
organisation for the work that they do. One of UnLtd’s them in a ‘leaderboard’ style graphic, can also engender a
corporate partners has a number of ambassadors who are healthy competitiveness among your employees.
each assigned to a different social impact organisation with
which their organisation works. The CEO also needs to be a 5. OUTCOMES
champion of this initiative.
Finally, approach all of this with outcomes in mind. Don’t
3. COMMUNICATION just measure the inputs and contributions, but showcase
the impact you create. It’s relatively easy to quantify the
Communication is key. In the communications industry, we dollars raised and to value the time donated, but the real
are not always great at this! joy, and sense of worth, comes from the individual stories
of impact – how many homeless people your contribution
Key to the continued engagement of your people gave a hot meal or a roof for the night, how many foster
beyond the leadership group is regular communication. children had someone visit them in foster care to read them
Videos, images, blog posts and profile stories on both a book, or how many children you funded through a trauma
volunteers and the charities with which you are engaged all therapy program.
serve as key points of engagement.
Finally, as Arianna Huffington wrote in her book
Allow and enable employees to share the content you Thrive, hopefully volunteering becomes “not something
create, and create their own content across their social exceptional or something that makes us feel particularly
media networks, not just on your intranet. Also beneficial noble. Just something that we do”.

Marketing is proud to have UnLtd
as its Content Partner. UnLtd brings
the Australian media, marketing and
advertising industry together to tackle a big issue:
undoing youth disadvantage. We urge you to visit
unltd.org.au and get involved.

THE CULTURE ISSUE

82 BEST OF THE WEB: EDITOR’S CHOICE James Charlesworth is
CEO of Simple.
Six ways to build
a robust culture
of compliance

If you slip up on compliance, your competitors will pounce
before the regulator does, says James Charlesworth.
Here are two compliance case examples, and six ways to
nurture a culture of compliance in your workplace.

N o matter how prominent Benckiser said in a statement it was Bunnings doesn’t always have the marketingmag.com.au
your brand or how big your “disappointed” with the outcome, lowest prices. That’s the conclusion
budget, overpromising in but accepted it may have misled of an 18-month investigation that CC
your advertising, or being a tad too consumers who did not realise finished last year.
clever with your choice of words, is products labelled as targeting
playing with fire. In the worst case specific areas, such as back pain, The New Zealand action – which
scenario, your brand promise will go period pain, migraine and tension is believed to have been sparked by
up in smoke, along with your profits. headaches, would be just as a competitor’s complaint – could cost
effective for other body parts. the retailer as much as $27 million.
NUROFEN
BUNNINGS IN NEW ZEALAND In Australia, Bunnings continues
Nurofen is a case in point: the Reckitt to use the ‘lowest prices are just the
Benckiser-owned painkiller brand It’s a brand on the ascendency. beginning’ line, but backs it up by
recently made Australian consumer The Aussie retailer, part of the prominently spelling out exactly how
law history for all the wrong Wesfarmers conglomerate, grew its it aims to deliver on that promise
reasons after the ACCC (Australian business on the promise that ‘lowest on its website: “We don’t pretend
Competition and Consumer prices are just the beginning’. It is to be the lowest at every instant on
Commission) appealed a decision now extending its success overseas, everything, which is why we offer
to fine the company $1.7 million for having taken over the massive every customer a price guarantee.
misleading conduct. The Federal Homebase retail chain in the UK. Where, if you find a competitor’s
Court had already found in the lower price on the same stocked
regulator’s favour, ruling there was Over the next years it will be item, we’ll beat it by 10%.”
no evidence to support Nurofen’s rebranding all UK stores. It’s even
claim that its Specific Pain range exported the Aussie sausage In many ways it’s a landmark
targeted pain in specific parts of the sizzle, last month using it as the case that doesn’t just relate to a
body, but the ACCC wanted the fine centrepiece for the launch of its first few mistaken claims in ads and
increased, to be more of a deterrent Bunnings-branded warehouse in St brochures. The price guarantee
against misleading conduct. Albans, north of London. is at the very heart of Bunnings’
sales pitch.
That fine was later tripled to It’s a different tale across the
more than $6 million – specifically Tasman, though. The Commerce If it hasn’t been able to deliver
targeting the brand’s Australian Commission (CC), the New Zealand on the promise, it’s not just the fine
profits – a decision recently upheld regulator, has filed 45 charges against it’ll have to pay – it’ll need to work on
by the Australian High Court. Reckitt Bunnings for misleading advertising. a new marketing proposition. Then
Despite its claims, apparently, there’s the damage to the brand’s
credibility in the mind of customers

MARKETING AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2017



twitter.com/marketingmag “Few others have the spell out as a benefit. Obtaining CREATE AN AUDITABLE TRAIL
motivation to scrutinise the correct approvals is crucial,
your claims like your but without the communication Whatever system you employ should
closest rivals.” and training to create a culture of create an auditable trail that makes
compliance, even the best processes it easy for both internal and external
who believed they were getting will fall down. New members to auditors to understand the process
the best price, just by shopping the team will miss crucial stages all campaigns go through before
at Bunnings. in campaign delivery if they aren’t hitting the market, regardless of the
aware of the procedure. media channel used.
Overpromising is a risk marketers
continually face. In a competitive There are some simple things CONDUCT YOUR OWN
landscape, marketing chiefs will push marketers can do to help ensure INTERNAL AUDITS
as far as they can to create a message their compliance processes are
that stands out, but is it compliant robust enough to withstand It’s one thing to establish compliance
with enforceable regulations? A regulatory examination. frameworks, but another to ensure
word out of place can have serious all employees are adhering to them.
repercussions. Internet providers, BUILD A CULTURE OF
here and overseas, have frequently COMPLIANCE Establishing an independent
been lambasted for use of the word internal audit group to conduct
‘unlimited’ when promoting online Ensure information on regulatory checks of all divisions at regular
download allowances, for example. requirements, compliance intervals will help keep you ahead of
frameworks and approval the regulators.
For the marketer, legal sign-off requirements – such as whether
is a necessary evil. It can be a and when legal sign-off is required In a competitive landscape, if it’s
disappointing experience – watching – is located in a central repository, not the regulator pulling you up on
a line being cut through the copy, regularly updated, frequently your advertising, it’ll be your nearest
watering down the potency of your communicated to marketing teams competitor. Few others have the
messaging. But, as Bunnings may and well-understood by them. motivation to scrutinise your claims
well demonstrate, the alternative can like your closest rivals.
be costly. MAKE IT EASY
A claim that’s perceived as false
‘Some of the lowest prices are Whatever system you instigate, will invite demands to pull ads and
just the beginning’ doesn’t quite making it easy and intuitive to use publish a retraction or face litigation.
have the same edge, does it? is the best way to ensure your team An audited process, where every box
sticks to it. is ticked, will ensure your legal team
Two things can come out of that has asked the questions beforehand,
tête-à-tête between the marketer MAINTAIN CONTINUITY and is armed to quickly respond
and the legal counsel: OF PROCESS to such complaints without your
campaign missing a beat.
= first, a reduced chance of being Ensure staff turnover in marketing
or legal does not affect your risk Marketers are getting to
landed with a fine from the management and compliance grips with marketing software to
regulator, and framework. Conduct regular training place ads and manage customer
and monitor how well teams are communication. They need to
= second, the marketing head will adhering to compliance procedures. ensure they’re using a similarly
methodical approach to campaign
need to be smarter about the AUTOMATE IT delivery. Otherwise, your name will
brand’s strategic positioning. be out there, but in ways that could
If you can’t say it, it can’t be a Using technology to automate the be damaging to both your brand’s
unique value proposition. approvals process – such as ensuring reputation and your bottom line.
It forces the marketing team to work cannot be approved before it
think hard about what really sets a has been signed off by Legal – can @ Read more
brand apart. In the case of Bunnings it help take some of the risk out of risk like this in our
could be experience and friendliness management. A modern marketing dedicated Brand
– something the company promotes operations platform can help you Management section on
through the use of staff in its TV build in compliance procedures marketingmag.com.au
campaigns, but doesn’t specifically relatively easily and quickly.

THE CULTURE ISSUE

84 BEST OF THE WEB: MOST SHARED

The quest for Scott Glitz is data and
the Holy Grail tech director at MEC.

Marketers are battling to get a single view of the
customer, to better understand the customer
journey and how to be in the right place with the
right message. But a number of roadblocks are
hampering the quest for the marketing Holy Grail,
writes Scott Glitz.

L ong gone are the days when a truly personalised experience would a CPM (cost per thousand marketingmag.com.au
data could only work in silos. regardless of device, and base it all impressions) on your site. Match
Clients are now asking the on consumer preference… sounds rates alone bring down the value of
hard questions around the usage amazing, right? data. Test first, then put the price
of data across adtech and martech, tag on it.
particularly on how they can use WHAT’S HOLDING US BACK?
first-party and second-party data The value of data is a topic all on
together. And that’s exactly what DMPs have now become a vital its own, but for me it’s cost versus
they should be doing. part of the tech stack and a data- ROI equals proof of concept.
first strategy. So why is it such a
I recently attended both the challenge to get access to first-party Publishers are trying to charge
Salesforce global summit in and second-party data? thousands to tens of thousands
Las Vegas, as well as the Adobe of dollars for data with no proof
Symposium in Sydney to gain I frequently have conversations to back up the results it will drive.
further insight and make better data with clients and the biggest This is the main reason that data
and tech usage decisions. publishers, and we’re not quite at usage has not become a mainstream
the stage of getting access to CRM commercialised product.
Common themes emerged at (customer relationship management)
both conferences, but the main topic or putting the ‘for sale’ sign on Third-party data represents
of conversation was around a single publisher or client data. its own unique challenges, which I
view of the consumer across devices. won’t touch on in this article.
Clients and agencies often
The key to achieving this Holy struggle to get first-party data fully FIRST-PARTY DATA
Grail of marketing is to bring on-boarded into a DMP, which CHALLENGES
together first-party and second- leaves site visitation data, which
party data and help them speak the at its core, is fancy floodlights and For the majority of clients, first-
same language. That’s what data nothing new. party data is and will always be the
management platforms (DMPs) are core. From your owned data (which
designed to do. In the case of second-party includes adtech and marketing
data, while some publishers are tech data) you have the capability
DMPs have given clients, showing mild interest, the vast to understand your consumers and
agencies and publishers a newfound majority have an extreme hesitation prospective consumers in a way you
ability, a 360-degree cross-device to get on board, or they over-value never could before.
view of the consumer. With the untested data.
help of DMPs, we’re able to string This is a client’s most valuable
together all digital touch points for Sorry guys, you can’t charge asset, so why are they not using
more for your data than you it to its fullest extent? Ingestion of

MARKETING AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2017

@marketingmag CRM data, for example, is always analytics to prove the value of the “The value of data is a
a challenge and there are many data and the partnership. topic all on its own, but
barriers to break down. Legal for me it’s cost versus
departments, IT departments, If the results and proof show that ROI equals proof of
global restrictions are just a few of publisher data is essential to a client’s concept.”
the obstacles to access the most digital efforts, how is this not the
powerful asset a client has. best possible position for a publisher RELEARN HOW WE OPERATE
to be in? Publishers are in the
From what speakers at the business of building and maintaining The digital industry is always
Salesforce Summit and the Adobe relationships with agencies and changing and a data-first mindset
Symposium were saying, I can tell clients. A data partnership creates is simply the next needed shift from
you that this is a global challenge. the strongest of relationships, the current norm. While the tech isn’t
Everyone is talking about ingesting constructed for longevity. perfect, it’s capable. Never before
first-party data and matching data, did we have the ability to understand
but no one is doing it right. LACK OF DATA CULTURE and respond based on individual
digital micro-moments. To get closer
SECOND-PARTY DATA The hurdles with using first- and to the 360-view Holy Grail, as an
CHALLENGES second-party data aside, in Australia industry, we need to promote a
and globally there seems to be a lack culture of data.
With first-party data presenting of a data culture, which is vital to a
such a challenge, more clients data-first strategy. And to get there, we need
and agencies are now pushing to understand – from all levels –
their publisher partners for Locally, when we look at how to operate in a data-first
second-party data, to gain insights adoption of DMPs across the approach. Clients need to
and piece together the full view industry, it’s staggering to know understand their owned data and
of the consumer. how many clients are using Adobe break down the barriers to use it to
Audience Manager or the newly its fullest extent. This will give the
While a few publishers are rebranded Salesforce DMP. At best foundation and a fundamental
open to this discussion, there is a MEC, I often do tech audits across edge over the competition.
paralysing fear of giving away the all categories and I know what tech
keys to the kingdom. Publishers brands are using within their stack. From an agency perspective, it
have built their foundation on starts from the top down. All staff
products that do not compute with We’re not far away from all tier should have an understanding of
selling their data to be used outside one clients having a DMP solution data and the tech behind it.
their walls. and when all clients and agencies
have the best data tools at their For publishers, data is simply a
Slowly, some are coming fingertips, what’s the USP, what’s new arrow in your quiver, but it’s the
on-board, but the fear of giving a the advantage? biggest one. I truly believe that the
peek behind the curtain is more first publishers who get on-board
than most publishers are willing to The data is key obviously, but with data matching outside of their
stomach. Adding to this general fear more important than the data within own systems will be best suited to
is the walled garden duopoly holding the DMP, are the people. The people move forward in this age of 21st
its data closer than ever. Why need to understand what a DMP can century digital.
would any publisher jump on-board do, and what it can’t do, and this will
knowing the two biggest games in be what makes some brands more @ Get a regular
town have made their stance clear successful than others. This is why a delivery of
that they will not sell their data data culture is crucial to success. industry news
outside of their platforms? and views by visiting
In the same way that the marketingmag.com.au/
The most common question industry changed when digital newsletter
I get in these conversations is ‘became a thing’, organisations
‘what’s the value back to the need to fundamentally shift to not
publisher?’ Publishers are asking just promote a digital culture, but
the wrong questions. There should a culture of data. I consider myself
be an increased focus on testing, incredibly lucky working at MEC
visibility into all signals, and because top to bottom, there is a
transparent learnings and belief that data should be at the core
of the business model.

THE CULTURE ISSUE

86 BEST OF THE WEB: MOST READ

Opinion: why Jon O’Loughlin is
Mark Ritson is executive director at
wrong about NPS Kantar TNS Australia.

In response to Mark Ritson’s thoughts on intelligence,
Jon O’Loughlin says today’s complex environment
requires more sophisticated approaches than NPS
is capable of informing.

M ark Ritson makes some matter), it cannot possibly be NPS IS SO SIMPLE, BUT marketingmag.com.au
excellent points in his confused with genuine intelligence, CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS
article on marketing so why use it in the first place? ARE NOT
intelligence (‘Intelligence the noun,
not the trait’, Marketing magazine Using simplicity as a rationale NPS programs typically fail to
April/May 2017) and, while I when it is widely accepted that identify the drivers of the scores,
appreciate the simplicity of his NPS is suboptimal only serves to but instead give teams high level,
message regarding the Net Promoter undermine the credibility of true rational feedback that is neither
Score (NPS), there are several customer experience feedback. specific, nor diagnostic enough
points that need to be addressed. Worse still, this is misleading for to guide and direct long-term
many C-suites and whole businesses improvement.
We can all agree that listening that continue to target and incentivise
to customers should be the based on a metric they can neither As a result, teams adopt a
heartbeat of any successful effectively action or control. short-term perspective by constantly
company and it is only through amending their processes and action
linking intelligence that companies The reason it is successful plans after each wave of NPS.
can get a competitive advantage. is not because the call centre
But how we accomplish this can activate change – it is simply This is further compounded by
does not need to be reliant on an because companies use NPS as this companies operating their customer
ineffectual measuring system. ‘merciless’ stick to beat their teams experience and innovation programs
to drive change. in separate silos, leaving customer
Let me explain. service staff to self-assess how they
The problem is that this can improve while their innovation
WHAT’S THE POINT OF change is often only reactionary expert colleagues spend their time
DOING ANYTHING IF NOT and superficial for change’s sake predicting the future.
FOR FUTURE GROWTH? and only looks to improve a score.
Sure, it may have been effective A NEW PERSPECTIVE
If NPS has a “weak to non-existent in the short run, but it is not
correlation with future business productive for long-term effects While I don’t disagree with Ritson
growth” (or anything else for that and true leadership. that “NPS has changed the world of
service satisfaction more than any

MARKETING AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2017

“NPS hasn’t evolved. IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: RITSON ON NPS
Businesses have. This "I know marketing professors and market research companies
is a big problem.” are dead set against NPS these days. That’s predominantly
because they’re both impractical, self-serving hypocrites and
@marketingmag don’t want you measuring customers on your own without
their ‘expert’ input. Ignore their counsel when it comes to
NPS. They’re probably right that it has a weak to non-existent
correlation with future business growth. It matters not. NPS is
a merciless data point, it has C-Suite understanding and it’s so
simple you can use it to explain to a call centre team why they
suck, how they can improve and how they will be re-measured.
Pound for pound, NPS has changed the world of service
satisfaction more than any other metric in the last 50 years.
Just remember that there is no point comparing your score to
anyone other than your competitors in your country; all other
comparisons tell you nothing."

other metric in the last 50 years”, expectation driven by the brand The complexity of the environment
I do challenge the thinking that it promise. This promise that every in which companies operate today
should continue to be a key – and brand makes is to deliver emotional requires more integrated and more
frequently the only – measure of CX and rational benefits to customers. sophisticated approaches than NPS
(customer experience). A customer experience program is capable of informing.
must therefore measure both
Today, companies are on a benefits and link back to the brand In the end, I agree that to be
continual journey of adaptation metrics Ritson mentions. “humble, able and ready to listen” is
and improvement to keep pace vital. But it’s impossible to do this
with a constant rate of change We have seen countless effectively when ill-informed about
and innovation. Successful examples where including a measure your customer.
companies have proven to have of preference for a brand is a better
a far deeper understanding of predictor of future behaviour. @ Ifyou missed
their customers’ needs and what Mark Ritson’s
connects them emotionally. Some of the best companies original article,
combine their customer service visit mktm.ag/Ritson-
In short, NPS hasn’t evolved. and brand teams with their Intelligence
Businesses have. This is a big innovation experts to help identify
problem. Our perspective is new products and services that
that customers buy a company’s will fix the problems expressed
products or services based on an by customers.

THE CULTURE ISSUE

88 STEVE SAMMARTINO

The culture
of immediacy

In a world where we rush to promote and share all that we do
and find, are we missing out on the benefits of letting ideas
and projects develop in isolation?

Steve Sammartino I n the early 1970s, in the or even blast the music out of the marketingmag.com.au
is an author and futurist middle of an urban dystopia, windows onto the street for other
who sees the world through on the fringes of Manhattan locals to enjoy.
marketing eyes. He has Island in New York where
held many senior marketing people had access to few if any Everyone would come along for
positions and has also built resources, a global multibillion-dollar a drink, a dance and a good time.
and sold his own start-ups. industry emerged. The industry itself As time went by the best party
His latest venture is Sneaky though – that didn’t happen until a houses grew in reputation. More
Surf, which is bringing decade or so after this thing started. of the locals would turn up and get
technology into the surf involved. The story has it that the
industry. His new book The In fact, the industry was a type of music at the parties only
Lessons School Forgot: How surprise externality; for years this happened because of the economic
to hack your way through thing had lived in a tiny space of a hardship, and it is mostly because
a technology revolution few square kilometres where it had they didn’t have musical instruments
is out now through Wiley. bubbled up, and been shaped and and couldn’t afford to have bands
Connect with him and see formed by a local cohort who had play at the parties.
his latest projects and blog at exactly zero intention of turning it
stevesammartino.com into money. The thing itself was what In fact, the three tenets of
mattered to the people creating it. hip-hop emerged from these parties
– break dancing, the music (DJs and
If you haven’t guessed, I’m talking MCs) and aerosol art – because of a
about hip-hop culture. lack of resources.

In the South Bronx in the 70s These three art forms evolved
among burnt-out apartment blocks, as a function of affordability. Anyone
high unemployment rates and could turn up and dance, all an MC
a bankrupt city, the locals – like or DJ needed was themselves and
everyone – wanted to enjoy life their musical creativity, and the artists
despite the economic hardships of didn’t need canvas or art classes – a
the time. wall, a train and spray made do.

They did what all good Local DJs would ‘invent new
bootstrappers do and made types of music’ by over playing two
something out of nothing. The entire records against each other, and
hip-hop culture started out from extending the break beat so the local
simple local parties. kids could perform their new and
cool acrobatic dance moves – which
Whoever had the good fortune became known as break dancing –
to own a decent stereo system they were dancing to the ‘break’.
would put on a party in their house,

MARKETING AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2017

The MCs would rap their stories three tenets of hip-hop are what development until it has evolved into
about the dance battles happening in they are because the founders had something worthy. To let the culture
front of them, and then have contests to invent culture from what they had. actually emerge, and find its place
with other rappers. Meanwhile local They couldn’t afford instruments and take its own shape before others
artists would be decorating the walls – so they used record players and start to reshape it on our behalf.
of the burnt-out apartment blocks microphones as instruments. Maybe it’s time for us to step back
they partied in. and let some things be, before we
They used spray cans and train interrupt them.
All of this thrived and evolved sides as their canvas. They took the
in one physical space over a large only nutrients their environment of How can we possibly do this in
number of years without any external urban decay provided. an omni-connected world?
influence or involvement. A small
community led by people like Kool Today, the entire connected world Maybe something of real cultural
Herc, Fab Five Freddy and Afrika is looking for something interesting value needs to put up a digital
Bambaataa added layers to their to put on Instagram, to post on the barrier around itself. Maybe we
micro culture until it was an entirely fan page, to put on Snapchat and to need to resist the temptation to
new form of art and entertainment. post on their YouTube channel. promote and monetise it before it
matures so that it has a chance of
The period of development “ Isolation sustaining itself?
was iterative, local and very long is one of
before it blossomed into something the cultural Cultural cool has become
@marketingmag amazing and beautiful. Hip-hop impacts gamified to a point where anything
culture was the veritable flower technology that could be turned into digital
growing through a crack in the has changed money is over before it even starts.
pavement. It didn’t appear in the forever. It gets hashtagged and hacked
discotheques of Manhattan until ” until the people who started to
it had fully developed. Only when Anything that looks remotely build something interesting move
this flower began to blossom and interesting gets mashed up, onto something untainted by us,
turn into a garden of undiscovered promoted, storied and presented the marketing community. The
originality and urban culture, did any to the world before it has even opportunity for a rapidly connected
tastemakers and marketers start to taken its own shape. The original world full of shooting cultural stars
take notice. community of anything different and may just be counterintuitive. Or
interesting can’t own it and nurture maybe I’m wrong.
Only when it was fully it like they could pre-web. And I’m
developed could it turn into a global starting to think that we may be Maybe the new cultural order is
phenomenon where big dollars were missing out on some of the cultural itself the fact that nothing is long-
made via the TV industrial complex. benefits that evolve from simple lived, permanent and isolated?
unadulterated time to develop. If Maybe the new culture of all things
I don’t think this could happen the first blossom of a new species is an emergent order where physical
today, not in a physical sense at is picked, replanted or repurposed, things get dematerialised into ones
least. The connected world just will we ever really see what that and zeros, and data is the new
wouldn’t allow it. And, while I’m a species may have turned into? culture itself, where everything
technology evangelist, it’s true that physical is only a short-term
all technology changes the flow in While we are urged to promote ingredient to a larger re-set of a
the physical world. Isolation is one of and share all that we do and find, global omni-culture?
the cultural impacts technology has maybe it is time to consider the
changed forever. opposite. To cocoon our idea in One thing is for sure: the way
something bubbled up over time
Certain things need the condition yesteryear, now takes a heartbeat.
of isolation in order to develop to Its spots change before we even
their true potential – to develop in a know what it looks like. And if we
single environment without external want to tap into anything cultural,
influence. Hip-hop culture both we need to be prepared to be nimble
needed and thrived in this exact enough for a quick and brilliant
kind of environment. It’s why it was ride, or patient enough to develop
so pure and so real. It had to find something for a long period where
its way with limited resources. The no one is looking.

THE CULTURE ISSUE

90 VALOS & LEE

Future-watching:
megatrends, insights
and outsights

Michael Valos and Alvin Lee explore megatrends in
technology, culture, society and institutions.

If by some miracle, a prophet could trends are losing relevant market marketingmag.com.au
describe the future exactly as it was share at an accelerated rate.”
going to take place, his predictions Michael Valos
would so sound so far-fetched, so It’s extremely difficult to forecast is director of industry
absurd, that everyone would laugh the future and Ian Wilson, a former engagement in the
him to scorn – Arthur C Clarke GE executive, sums up the ongoing Department of Marketing at
challenge for corporates. “No amount Deakin University and chair
I n 2001: A Space Odyssey, of sophistication is going to allay of Marketing’s industry
Clarke described many the fact that all of your knowledge is advisory board.
technologies that today we about the past and all your decisions
take for granted, like using are about the future,” he says. Dr Alvin Lee is director
geostationery satellites to of the Master of Marketing
communicate. One can think megatrends in the Department of
have origins in shifts to resources, Marketing at Deakin
Marketing managers happily do cultural and societal values, University.
future-watching. We ponder how to demographics, technology
accommodate and exploit disruption (human body/transhumanism),
in our marketplaces. For many, the technology (AI, communication,
case is that the change is happening transportation, buildings) and
now. When doing this, we ask, ‘How governments and institutions.
can we see?’ Our bosses ask, ‘How PricewaterhouseCooper’s (PWC)
sure are you?’ ‘Five Megatrends and Their
Implications for Global Defence
We try to see it as an issue and Security’ contends that trends
of insights and outsights – how come from shifts in economic
to see beyond your data to know power, demography, urbanisation,
megatrends. technology, climate and resources.

John Cleary, investment adviser Technology
at Morgans Financial Ltd, interprets:
“In the 21st century the business Antonluigi Gozzi founded and is the
landscape is changing at a faster managing director of LiveHire. This
velocity than ever before and those highly successful business leverages
companies that are not responding the technology megatrend to run a
or are reactionary to these underlying digital-disruptive strategy. He says:

MARKETING AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2017

“Google, Amazon and Facebook have sustainability – will people give up Scott Gunther, general manager,
been setting standards for the degree energy-rich lifestyles? customer insights at IAG, identifies
of personalisation and powerful the complexity in understanding
customer experience. In fact in today’s Technology for personal use the consequences of megatrends.
connected world, customers value can cure or lessen the symptoms of “Spotting megatrends is the easy
experiences more than products, disease and ageing. This includes part, what you do in response to
and specifically they want to have preventative systems to monitor the megatrend is harder. A different
even more ‘humanised experiences’. health in real-time. Some devices view is to find the intersection of
And that is: an ongoing connection, enhance bodily parts/functions, ‘macro-economic trend’, ‘changing
memorable experiences, on-demand while others aid mental strength to customer behaviour’ and ‘disruptive
opportunity, anywhere in real time, lessen the severity of the neuron technology’. That’s generally where
and personalised engagement." degeneration that results from you find your opportunity to best
ageing. Thus, those able to afford respond or innovate.”
Resources these prostheses will live longer and
better by augmenting cerebral and Maria Kucherhan, national sales
Resources include energy, minerals, corporeal processes. manager, health and aged care at
climate and agriculture. An example Simplot Australia highlights that
of disruption here is cultured meat. As we are already well on disruptive start-up businesses
This product variant uses land this path, there will likely be compete better in this space because
more efficiently and is much more little backlash to this technology.
environmentally friendly. It tastes
@marketingmag like steak – and technically it is “ No amount of sophistication is
steak – but did not come from a going to allay the fact that all of
bovine. Questions may be: how to your knowledge is about the past
market a steak that tastes the same and all your decisions are about
but looks different? How would it the future. – Ian Wilson
appeal to non- and low-meat eaters, ”
price conscious meat eaters? What As history has shown, these they can be more agile when
will stop people from enjoying and
accepting this alternative? advances will have unanticipated responding to megatrends.

Cultural and societal values and unintended consequences “Large corporates are beholden

These include trust, tribalism, and society will have to adjust to to their robust and slow moving
resilience and rigorous ‘scientific’
decision-making. Some are asking if new norms. People already have processes, which leaves innovation
megatrends will exacerbate tribalism
and compel group acceptance at the relationships with androids and this lagging. Products miss the trend
expense of minority groups/opinions.
will increase. Society will initially cycle or are launched as ‘me too’. It’s
Demography
struggle with the concept, but will the start-ups and entrepreneurial
This relates to growth, ageing,
income and wealth in the populace. eventually accept this. corporates that breed agility and
The middle class is shrinking,
creating income disparity. The Governments, institutions can quickly make the most of a
effect? Product range will be luxe and religions megatrend.”
versus economy. What about new
industries that cater for a wealthy Letting those who have walked
older demographic? Those who have
liquidated their assets and are now It’s uncertain whether societal the trend-spotting path summarise
cash rich, what new needs will they
have? Do you think they will share power will become more centralised our thoughts:
this wealth or indulge themselves?
Increasing urban density will reduce into organisations. However, trust “The future belongs to those who

in organisations will erode as they prepare for it today.” – Malcolm X,

increase their surveillance of civil rights activist.

civilian behaviour. Spotting a “The future is not something

megatrend is one thing, but it is we enter. The future is something

quite another undertaking for an we create.” – Leonard Sweet, US

organisation to react to the trend. theologian.

THE CULTURE ISSUE

92 SÉRGIO BRODSKY

Artful advertising:
propaganda for what
matters in life

Advertisers and organisations are getting more artistic in
pursuit of a captivated audience. Sérgio Brodsky discusses the
importance of tying campaigns to business and purpose goals,

not merely generating buzz.

S omething remarkable stuff for attention is one of Adland’s marketingmag.com.au
happened in the art world in most dominant success metrics.
Sérgio Brodsky 2015. For the first time the
is an internationally- Turner Prize was not given to Since its launch in July 2016,
experienced brand an artist. Architecture studio ‘Meet Graham’ has been one of the
marketing professional, Assemble won the coveted award for most awarded and talked about
having worked for some combating the dereliction of a brand campaigns worldwide.
of the world’s greatest rundown council housing estate. Branded a “new weapon in the
strategic communications Another surprise this year was IKEA’s fight against death on the road”,
agencies. Sérgio is a proven Better Shelter being awarded Beazley the commissioning of a deformed
thought leader, speaking at Design of the Year. The temporary, humanoid by Victoria's Transport
industry events, lecturing sustainable housing answered the Accident Commission (TAC) to
and regularly being refugee crisis ‘brief’, beating David Australian sculptor Patricia Piccinini
published worldwide. He Bowie’s Blackstar album cover. was an interesting approach to
is passionate about cities promoting safer driving and reducing
and culture and the role Social utility is the emerging death and trauma on roads.
of brands and technology value in the arts. There’s even a
in society. Sérgio is museum for it! The Museum of Arte What is the true value of ‘Meet
multilingual and holds a Útil proposes new uses for art within Graham?’ Has it delivered on its
BA in IP law and an MBA society and is one of the drivers promise? By December 2016, 270
in global brand strategy of a global movement shaping our people had lost their lives on Victorian
and innovation, and he is contemporary art world. roads, 36 more than the 2015 toll.
a scholar of The Marketing Moreover, how did a hyper-elaborated,
Academy. Follow him on So what? expensive and convoluted way of telling
people something they already know
Twitter: @brandKzar Advertising has borrowed artistic become so unanimously praised?
values to captivate consumers. So
why haven’t we embraced utility more According to research from
vigorously? As noted by MONA’s psychology professor James
creative director Leigh Carmichael, Cutting from Cornell University,
“Shock for shock’s sake is shallow. The the magnetism exerted by certain
audience knows it.” Still, doing crazy art pieces is a consequence of the
“mere-exposure effect”.

MARKETING AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2017

Take the Mona Lisa for instance. For professional routine due to a car in Panama City, installed tweeting
most of its life, Da Vinci’s masterpiece crash, holds a unique perspective devices inside potholes in 2015.
languished in relative obscurity. It was about ‘Meet Graham’. Complaints were directly tweeted
only in the 20th century that it gained to the Department of Public Works’
universal prominence. What propelled “I respect the creative approach account every time a car ran over
it wasn’t a scholarly re-evaluation, to move away from typical the devices. As a result, potholes
but a burglary. Newspapers around sensationalised trauma imagery and started disappearing.
the world made it the first work of messaging; however, does ‘Meet
art to achieve global fame. Then in Graham’ have social impact? While ‘Speed Camera Lottery’:
1919, Marcel Duchamp’s LHOOQ, thought-provoking and buzz-worthy, Volkswagen used speeding cameras
or goateeing of the Mona Lisa only it feels academic to me – and it at intersections to reward those
reinforced its status as the epitome of also doesn’t deliver a very positive who obey the speed limit with the
great art. From that point, the Mona message. Rather, the campaign fees paid by those who violated it.
Lisa came to represent Western culture promotes our bodies as being the The average speed, which was 32
itself. ‘problem’, which creates a sense kilometres per hour (km/h) before
of helplessness... So while I expect the test, reduced to 25 km/h,
However, a study in the British ‘Meet Graham’ tested well creatively, convincing the Swedish National
Journal of Aesthetics suggests that I query whether a more empowering Society for Road Safety to adopt the
the exposure effect doesn’t work the message – offering a tangible idea in Stockholm.
same way on everything. Over time, solution – would evoke actual
exposure favours the greater artist behavioural change.” Brand communications have
(or advertiser). Just like the Mona Lisa borrowed plenty of inspiration from
entered the Louvre for its own merit,
@marketingmag ‘Meet Graham’ gained fame for its “ We should be a little sceptical
unparalleled hyperrealist uniqueness. about greatness. Great and
mediocre advertising (and art) can
But we should be a little get confused, even by experts.
sceptical about greatness. Great ”
and mediocre advertising (and art) In this movement towards useful the arts. Yet the real artfulness
can get confused, even by experts.
That’s why we need to see, and read, cultural interventions, ‘Meet Graham’ lies in implementing creative ideas
as much as we can. The more we’re
exposed to the good and the bad, the could’ve borrowed the effectiveness that solve real problems. This was
better we are at telling the difference.
from previous campaigns that what Dutch artist-innovator Daan
A parallel can be traced with
Fearless Girl, the bronze statue actually made roads safer: Roosegaarde achieved with Smart
confronting Wall Street’s Charging
Bull, which also earned a significant ‘Bad News Bag’: A Delhi Police Highway. Using paint that glows in
amount of media, yet simultaneous
to delivering real business results. campaign that used newspapers’ the dark or when roads are slippery,
SHE – a fund established to support
companies that invest in female tragic reports on car accidents as the interactions – useful and beautiful –
leadership – and the statue’s
‘Maecenas’ (capital market for fine wrapping for bottles in local liquor occur precisely when needed.
art) increased its average daily
trading volume 384% in the days stores’ points-of-sale. This happened Art is propaganda for what
following the bronze’s release.
Inbound calls from prospective on the night of 31 December 2012, matters in life, a realisation that
institutional investors rose 15-fold in
the four weeks after what could be a night when the road toll generally carries tremendous power. In this
called a cultural branding statement.
spikes up. That particular New Year’s sense, the best use of media is
Sarah Minogue, a senior
Australian marketer who was Eve, however, drunk driving fell to one that shapes and frames brand
temporarily removed from her
574 from 620 with only one accident communication profitably as well as

reported on Delhi’s roads. Since for the benefit of the audiences with

then, the initiative now covers other whom these interactions take place.

celebratory dates and cities. As we enter the era of purpose-led

‘Tweeting Pothole’: Telemetro brands, useful actions need to speak

Reporta, an influential news show louder than buzz.

THE CULTURE ISSUE

94 MICHAEL HENDERSON

How anthropology can
help you unlock new
and dazzling ideas

Standing in for Jac Phillips this issue is corporate anthropologist
Michael Henderson, who discusses déjà vu and how anthropology
can contribute to better marketing.

Yet, how often is the audience truly set aside what is already known and marketingmag.com.au
blown away by an innovative, timely concentrate on allowing fresh insight
Michael Henderson is a and resonant marketing message? and understanding to emerge.
corporate anthropologist and Far too often marking messages are
director at Cultures at Work. merely copied versions of a previous Which brings us to anthropology.
incarnation. When was the last time In his book The 10 Faces of
I t’s not often you see the words you saw a new and intriguing advert Innovation, Strategies for Heightening
‘anthropology’ and ‘marketing’ for a car, cosmetic, washing detergent, Creativity, Kelley identifies 10
in the same sentence. insurance policy or travel destination? archetypes that IDEO embraces
Why would you? They’re to enhance its creative ability.
two vastly different disciplines, right? Despite marketing constantly ‘Anthropologist’ sits as his lead choice.
branding itself as a creative process, He says the anthropologist’s role is the
One belongs to the social it often delivers the business single biggest source of innovation at
sciences and the other to business. equivalent of déjà vu – that visceral IDEO because, like most innovators,
Anthropology is that slightly sense that you have seen and heard IDEO has employed great problem
dated method of studying and this before. solvers. What’s most important,
understanding human culture, however, is to understand what
whereas marketing is the ever What would it take for marketing problems the customer needs solving.
advancing, constantly adapting to shake things up and communicate
business discipline that ensures with new messages? To identify these customer wants
organisations are constantly and needs, IDEO employees practise
revisiting and repackaging their If marketers truly wish to capture what anthropologists call ‘participant
offers and positioning them in new, their audience’s attention then they’d observation’, which is a data
unique and exciting ways. be better focusing on vu jàdé, rather gathering process that does exactly
than delivering déjà vu. as the name suggests: observe what
customers are doing.
So, what is vu jàdé?
Famous vu jàdé moments where
Tom Kelley, CEO of the innovation anthropologists have contributed
and design pioneering organisation to the reposition or redesign of
IDEO, coined the phrase ‘vu jàdé’ products include:
as a memorable flip on déjà vu,
suggesting that rather than feeling as = The green circular button being
though we have seen this all before,
we should approach marketing with a introduced to office equipment
beginner’s mind, with a willingness to to initiate a process, such as on a
copy machine,

MARKETING AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2017

= the introduction of the compass “ Despite out of your employees’ collective
marketing moment-to-moment decisions to
app on smartphones as a means constantly control something, relate with others
of selling more phones in Muslim or improve on the status quo.
countries where consumers need branding itself
to be able to locate Mecca, Watch and listen closely –
as a creative you will quickly realise there’s no
= the naming of Toyota car activity occurring in your business
process, it that is not driven by one of these
brand ‘LEXUS’ to compete with cultural drivers.
prestigious brands in the US often delivers
(LEXUS being an abbreviation for The same applies to your
Luxury EXport to the US), and the business customers responding to or acting
upon a marketing message. The
= the prototyping of phone equivalent of degree to which a customer buys into
the message will be determined by
capable water bottles, given the déjà vu. ” the degree to which that message
frequency people were observed clearly articulates or stimulates these
with each of these items in their subconscious ones on which the three cultural drivers.
hands at the same time.
@marketingmag limbic system bases its evaluation of When a message or brand truly
How do anthropologists see stimulates the customer’s interest, it
what marketers are missing? your brand and marketing message. will have signalled its approachability
and capability to deliver one or more
In truth, anthropologists are not likely As a corporate anthropologist of the three cultural drivers.
to see anything too differently from
marketers. What differentiates the I spend thousands of hours each It’s as if the message is speaking
anthropologist’s contribution is not directly to the limbic brain saying:
so much what they see, but what year educating my clients in the ‘I’m a user friendly item or service
they think about it. that will deliver results, that will
three motivating forces at work enable you to control, relate or
This is not an easy skill to develop.’ When this message is
acquire. Harvard Business School within human culture that drives received in the customer’s brain,
Professor Dorothy Leonard refers to a powerful and commercially
it as “deep smarts”. all behaviours. This ‘deeper’ significant moment occurs. Trust is
attributed to the brand.
Anthropologists understand appreciation of human decision-
that the human brain views brands By spending time with your
in a similar manner to how it views making and motivation enables customers and observing how they
people. Brands are attributed with interact with your offering, you will
anthropomorphic qualities and, in organisations to begin to understand be able to apply an anthropological
particular, are evaluated through lens to your offering and learn to
the two key filters of capability and where the day-to-day performance identify what messages are really
approachability. important to the customer.
of their organisation is coming from.
Our primitive ancestors, who Learning to view your customers’
were reliant on the limbic brain for Any and all human activity is preferences and interactions
most of their moment-to-moment with your products and services,
decisions, were – as a matter of driven by one or more of these three brands and messages can enable
survival – focused on determining you to gain powerful new insights
the approachability and capability motivators: that may have been otherwise
of their greatest threat: their fellow overlooked. New opportunities,
humans. = Control: the primal need to be questions, perspectives and
messages can and will emerge.
This survival instinct still runs in charge of vital resources such Suddenly the tired repetitive world
deep in modern human culture will come to life in a dazzling display
and the same process plays out as time, energy, money, health, of vu jàdé.
immediately when a new marketing
offer is made. The questions ‘is information and destination,
this a friendly offering?’ and ‘is
this useful and safe?’ are the go-to = relate: wanting to relate to and

receive relating gestures from

others to effectively and deeply

connect and belong, and

= develop: the need or desire to

change, grow, adapt, innovate,

ideate and invent.

Your own organisational culture is,

at this very moment, delivering a level

of performance that is emanating

THE CULTURE ISSUE

96 RITSON ON BRAND

Consumer culture and
meaning-based brands

Mark Ritson finds himself in a curious position: sitting
on the fence between marketers either downplaying or
overplaying the role of brands.

Professor Mark Ritson W e’ve been talking about eventually consume. You should also marketingmag.com.au
is an internationally ‘consumer culture’ for note that these meanings aren’t used
renowned marketing so long we’ve forgotten to simply communicate your identity
consultant and teaches what the term refers to. to others; they are also used to help
marketing and brand It does not mean people shopping a you define that identity internally to
management on MBA lot or obsessing about brands and yourself, too.
programs at London advertising. It runs much deeper
Business School, MIT than that. In the dim and distant days of
Sloan, the University of the 19th and early 20th centuries,
Minnesota, Singapore Culture, at least from an people still faced existential
Management University anthropological point of view, is the questions, still required meaning
and Melbourne Business rich web of meanings that you and and still built culture from these
School. Tweet him at I use to make sense of the world we meanings. But, bereft of disposable
@markritson live in, others and ourselves. To be income, shopping malls and credit
human is to face a continual stream cards they relied on other sources
of existential questions: what does it of meaning to answer life’s often
mean to be Australian? Successful? posed questions. Our ancestors used
A working mother? We use meanings religion, social standing and their
to answer those questions and profession as their core source of
culture is simply the agglomeration cultural meaning. It’s no coincidence
of all of them within a particular that, as our reliance on consumer
group of people. culture has grown, these alternative
sources of meaning have declined
A consumer culture refers to and dwindled. Your grandfather
a society or group of people who may have been a working-class
increasingly draw on the meanings Irish Catholic who worked down the
derived from consumption to answer mines, but you are a Gucci-wearing,
the questions of everyday existence. Marlboro-smoking, BMW-hating
An Australian would drink VB not member of a consumer culture he
Peroni. A successful executive could not have even imagined.
would drive a Porsche, then sell it
when they had their first child and I spoke at a marketing conference
switch to a Volvo because they have at the University of Arizona many
become a working mother. years ago alongside the enormously
famous Professor Sid Levy, who
You’ll note here that consumer wrote the iconic article ‘Symbols
culture is as much about the for Sale’ in 1959. Levy’s article
brands I don’t buy as the ones that I

MARKETING AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2017

@marketingmag predicted and explained much consumer. Some of it helps me influential marketing professor on
of what we would one day come choose the right business suit, some the planet right now and his client
to know as consumer culture. of it helps define me as a person. list reads like a who’s who of big
The conference was packed with brand companies. While he does
academics desperate to talk to Sid, Similarly, marketers often not completely dismiss the idea of
who was then in his late eighties and overcomplicate the basis for brand differentiation and, with it, meaning,
among the most famous marketing building. If you understand the Sharp is much keener on the idea
professors in history. He was goal is to get target consumers to of distinctiveness. You may not
nowhere to be found after his session know you exist and then associate be able to stand for anything to
because, unbeknown to me and the you with certain intended meanings, consumers, but you can certainly
other attendees, Levy had spied a it’s patently obvious what you signal your distinctiveness on the
very attractive Australian woman need to do to build brand. You try shelf and achieve mental availability.
(my wife) and was busy giving her a to ensure that as many touch In his usual acerbic style, he notes,
private tour of the university museum points as possible aren’t just “Consultants and designers who
next door. As he walked from exhibit positive for your target consumers, think that brand names, logos
to exhibit Sid (as my wife now calls but that they are also replete with and other brand assets have any
him) explained how the ancient the associations you intend them to deeper intrinsic meaning are merely
Native American totems were simply link to your brand. If you want showing how poorly they understand
the precursors for iPhones and to communicate that you are a real consumer behaviour, and
sports cars. I never did get to meet fun and irreverent beauty brand, commercial reality.”
the great man, but my wife says he like Benefit cosmetics, you focus
was the most insightful marketing on making the staff, the packaging, Meanwhile, moving in the exact
professor she ever met. Ouch. the environment, the product opposite direction are a whole
names and every other possible slew of purpose-driven marketers
who believe brands are more than
“ Symbolic associations like just a few cultural associations.
‘sophisticated’ are just as It’s not good enough for Starbucks
functional as those related to to associate itself with premium,
‘performance’ or ‘speed’. It’s all metropolitan, excellent coffee. Oh
”utility for the human consumer. no. Starbucks is now focused on
Too often, marketers are keen to touch point as fun and irreverent “inspiring the human spirit”. Like
many brands, it has moved beyond
separate out the symbolic aspects as possible. product meaning and now sees itself
as an agent for change and humanity.
of a brand from its more functional It’s curious that at the apogee “Coffee is what we sell as a product,
but it’s not the business we’re in,”
associations. We love to draw lines of the consumer culture we now Starbuck’s CEO Howard Schultz
observed a few years ago. “We’re in
between product-based words enjoy, marketers are turning away the people business. I’m passionate
about human connection.”
like ‘performance’ and ‘reliability’ from this meaning-based approach.
For once I find myself in the
and the more emotional stuff like We find ourselves in a place in middle. I don’t think Starbucks is
in the people business; I think it’s
‘sexy’ and ‘status’. In truth that which marketers are either in the coffee business. But I also
don’t think Starbucks is simply a
is a colossal mistake. When you downplaying or completely monochrome collection of distinctive
assets that achieve mental and
understand the meaning-based overplaying the role of brands. physical availability and little
else. Somewhere in the middle,
model of branding you realise The downplayers are the between these two extremes,
where brand meets meaning and
that symbolic associations like increasingly adherent followers culture is activated, is where brands
operate best.
‘sophisticated’ are just as functional of Professor Byron Sharp and the

as those related to ‘performance’ or Ehrenberg-Bass approach to brand

‘speed’. It’s all utility for the human building. Sharp is easily the most

THE CULTURE ISSUE

OWutay98 WAYOUT a box in an office cheering the
strawberry flavour, it’s the individual
Associate professor managers who are doing that,
Con Stavros is the bringing to the forefront their own
program director of feelings and priorities. What happens
postgraduate marketing when people change?
studies at RMIT University
and one of Australia’s Of course, organisations are free
leading commentators on to take a stand on whatever they
marketing matters. choose, whenever they choose, and
Tweet him @constavros may feel a moral or ethical obligation
on issues that feature in the public
T he multitude of new Let’s pretend a hot socio-cultural discourse in areas related to their marketingmag.com.au
communication platforms, issue currently being debated operations. Many issues, particularly
the voracity of the media is which flavour of Neapolitan those that relate to equality, are
ice-cream – vanilla, strawberry or compelling. However, things can
to explore every angle chocolate – is best. Consumers may go awry quickly as boundaries and
not be surprised when ice-cream connections expand; even something
and increasing demands from vendors have their say (the correct as seemingly safe as cheering on the
marketing answer being ‘it depends Aussie spirit can backfire on you if
stakeholders provide an interesting on who is buying’), or even when the public perceive the connection
religious organisations put forward as overtly promotional. As brands
marketing conundrum for their view (they may argue all are active on social media have found, a
equal best). As individuals we gladly contrarian view is never further than
modern branding. respond (I choose chocolate), but a click away.
should a bank, an airline or a mining
While corporations once played company also chip in? In something Sometimes the gravitas of the
so benign the answer is probably message comes from the size of the
a role in culture and society by ‘why not?’ However, the continuum organisation – its many employees
of social and cultural issues is vast supposedly a united voice. The
resonating with the feelings of the and knowing when to start and stop question remains, however, how
is not easy. Some may argue for risk does being good at capitalism or
community, they are now often aversion and suggest it is best not to having a large workforce qualify a
start at all. company as a worthy commentator
expected to be leaders, even when on what may be complex social
Add to this the simple fact that and cultural issues? It’s a response
that position may not be congruent there really is no such thing as a that needs justifying before a
brand itself. Of course, they exist in brand weighs in with ‘its’ view if the
to their primary purpose. a powerful marketing sense (that message is expected to resonate.
is why we are on this page), but in
A driving force in all this must reality they reflect the hearts, minds Lesson one in Marketing 101
and moods of those individuals is that the goal of marketing is to
be laid at the feet of marketing charged with their custody and, more facilitate exchange and the objective
importantly, those who buy them. A of marketing communications that
commentators, like me, who breakfast cereal brand isn’t literally sits under this is to shape behaviour.
It makes sense if we are a bedding
have long argued that brands brand selling a good night’s sleep or
a shampoo selling clean scalps, but
have become de facto icons with the divide to selling culture and its
artefacts is well beyond that premise
which we establish powerful and and needs extra diligence and care.
As brands become more and more
emotionally binding relationships. symbols of our culture, it is important
that they navigate this path with
In this scenario, it is understandable caution and patience.

that managers may have faith that

their brands project some stronger

cultural purpose that goes beyond

simply selling satisfaction.

A few years back I argued that

FIFA’s global sponsors were best

placed to push for executive change

in football’s governing body. It’s not,

however, always that simple.

MARKETING AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2017

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