Tag: Australia

Melbourne, Australia – Activation agency Traffik has recently concluded three brand experience activations during the anticipated 2022 Australian Open tennis tournament. Said tournament is the beginning of Traffik’s work for the year, with brands responding to consumer’s pent up demand for real-life experiences.

The agency continued its work with global alcohol beverage company Diageo to bring to life the newly formed partnership between the Australian Open and Gordon’s Gin, with multiple bars built across the Melbourne and Olympic Park site plus halo activities to activate “Shall We Saturday”. 

In addition, the partnership enabled Gordon’s Gin to hero key flavours Premium Pink, Mediterranean Orange and Sicilian Lemon in addition to their new Alcohol-Free product and classic Gordon’s London Dry.

Traffik also secured two new global clients for the 2022 tournament, Rolex and Dunlop.

Through the new clientele, the agency worked in collaboration with Hype Workshop in building the Rolex VIP hospitality suite for their guests, retailers and senior executives, with the partnership showcasing world-class hospitality to local retailers and allowing their guests to get as close to the action as possible on Rod Laver Arena.

Lastly, sports brand Dunlop, which is the official tennis ball during the tournament, had a small but popular photo activation on-site to engage fans and provide them with a unique photographic moment to commemorate their time at Melbourne Park.

Mark Edney, head of sponsorship at Traffik, said, “It’s been a wonderful year for our team at the Australian Open. Our partnership with Diageo continues to strengthen, and the learnings from this event will further enhance how the brand leverages the partnership in 2023.”

He added, “It was also a pleasure to bring Rolex and Dunlop to the Traffik family. Rolex identified Traffik as having the strong internal relationships with Tennis Australia that unlocks opportunities and enables Hype to produce their best work. As an agency, we don’t always have to play a lead role. At times, our strongest contribution is to unlock opportunities for others to deliver outstanding work. This year highlighted the technical production and project management capabilities of our team and our ability to deliver different client experiences.”

Sydney, Australia – Marketing agency M&C Saatchi Sydney has announced the additions to its creative team, namely Julian Lock, the new craft designer, Billie Gurr and Jake Rowland, the new junior art directors, as well as William Campion and Claire Kirby, the new junior copywriters.

Lock, who was a 2020 honour graduate of Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London, has gained freelance design experience working for clients such as City Of Sydney, Darlinghurst Business Partnership, and ORDRE.com. He has also garnered experience as a freelance fashion photographer for brands like P.E Nation and the Australian Fashion Council. 

Meanwhile, Gurr, who is transferring from M&C Saatchi Sport and Entertainment, has fine-tuned the craft of solving brand problems with creative thinking and storytelling, allowing her to deliver successful campaigns such as ‘Have a Go’ by Australian Olympic Committee, ‘Pick Fresh Play Fresh’ by supermarket Woolworths, and ‘Just Change’ by Australian spring water brand Just Water, amongst others. While Rowland, who is a recent Award School Graduate with a background in design, has freelanced at Leo Burnett and Present Company. He is equipped to find unique and engaging ways to communicate brands’ messages.

Lastly, Campion, a recent law graduate and a recording artist for Sydney/LA-based record label, Future Classic, has freelanced at BMF and REBORN digital agency. He has completed three degrees, and is seeking to push himself creatively and intellectually, while Kirby has also freelanced at Leo Burnett and Present Company. She is a reformed commercial lawyer, and is well-acquainted with the art of distilling complex ideas into simple, easy to understand concepts.

Mandie van der Merwe, M&C Saatchi Sydney’s executive creative director, said, “Jake, Claire, Billie, Julian and Will are interesting thinkers, brimming with potential, who bring really different past experiences to the department. So we’re really excited to have them on board and we’re expecting them to knock it out the park.”

In December 2021, M&C Saatchi AUNZ has appointed new senior leaders, namely Shelley Parsons, the new executive creative director, and Ben O’Brien, the new deputy executive creative director, to drive the creative team of its dedicated agency for supermarket giant Woolworths in Australia, Greenhouse.

Australia —Toyota in Australia has announced the appointment of Toyota veteran Vin Naidoo as its new chief marketing officer. Naidoo ascends from his general manager role in the automotive company which he held since 2020 leading the APAC leg.

Naidoo joined Toyota Australia in 2002 after graduating from Melbourne University as a mechanical engineering major. Naidoo assumed various positions at Toyota since then, and now brings an extensive experience in after-sales, product planning, national fleet and national sales, as well as regional operations. From 2013 to 2020, he was the head of sales of Toyota’s luxury vehicle brand Lexus in Australia.

Naidoo commented that his focus as new CMO will be to articulate Toyota’s compelling vision as a mobility company, connecting everyone “with the freedom to move and be moved.”

“This will require even deeper collaboration across all parts of our business as we navigate the once-in-a-century transformations occurring simultaneously in connectivity, autonomy, sharing and electrification. We will communicate the unique benefits to customers of Toyota’s industry-leading vehicles and services. We will also build on our success by accelerating innovation in the spirit of continuous improvement, which is a cornerstone of our company culture,” he said.

Naidoo replaces John Pappas who has been promoted to chief executive at Lexus Australia.

Australia – Global gametech company Livewire has appointed two new senior leaders, namely Adam Fischer, the new national commercial director for ANZ, and Chris Johnston, the head of gaming strategy for ANZ.

Fischer was most recently the national sales director of screen advertising supplier Val Morgan, where he played an important part in the success of global entertainment media brand Fandom in Australia and led the launch and growth of new publishing brands such as The Latch, POPSUGAR & Thrillist, and their local editions. Fischer was also the group head of sales at digital media and internet company Ziff Davis for 6 years, where he worked across global digital brands including IGN, Mashable, and PCMag.

Meanwhile, Johnston was previously the creative systems director at media agency MediaCom in Australia, where he has worked across clients such as Adidas, Mars, Dell, Alienware, NBC Universal, and Hasbro, amongst others. He has also held roles that combined strategic, content, media, and partnerships experience nationally. In his new role, Johnston will be working on a growing list of non-endemic brands investing in the gaming ecosystem and their gaming marketing strategies.

Fischer shared that there is a powerful arsenal in Livewire’s suite of products, including proprietary measurement tools, cookie-free data segments, top tier influencer access, and Australia‘s largest Gaming Ad Marketplace, with exclusive access to major in-game IP across Console, PC, and mobile. 

“The fact that Livewire has unlocked exclusive in-game inventory access to global metaverse powerhouse; Roblox, is testament to their credentials and an exciting step forward in connecting brands with the diverse gaming audiences,” said Fischer. 

Meanwhile, Johnston commented, “The opportunity to combine multiple passions of mine to a business and industry that is seeing incredible momentum is equal parts thrilling and the right kind of challenging. I look forward to driving the continued success of Livewire and the growth of its clients in the world of gaming.”

Indy Khabra and Brad Manuel, Livewire’s co-founders, see the hires as indicative of the demand the business is experiencing both in Australia and globally after expanding into EMEA and APAC.

“We are delighted to have them join the team representing excellence in strategy, service, and client growth. As brands and agencies prioritise gaming to capture attention and connect with the next generation of consumers whether by in-game advertising, content creators, or immersive experience in the metaverse; the addition of Chris and Adam will help us deliver gaming marketing and gametech solutions that marketers require,” said Khabra and Manuel.

Just recently, Livewire has announced its partnership with in-game advertising platform Anzu to help APAC advertisers reach Roblox players through blended in-game ad placements.

Sydney, Australia – Full-service media independent agency This is Flow has announced the promotion of former digital lead Matt Papasavva as the agency’s newest managing director. His core focus will now be centered on evolving the agency’s “Positive Impact” positioning, which is designed around harnessing talent, driving innovation, and an unforgettable client experience.

Prior to joining the agency, he was the digital media manager at Ticketek with responsibility for leading the digital marketing efforts for the majority of sporting clubs and codes across Australia. Before that, he was with Mindshare as digital business manager and associate director at FAST Programmatic. He has also worked at MediaCom in digital implementation, planning and investment.

Speaking about his promotion, Papasavva said, “Flow has been on an amazing growth trajectory, and as someone that’s been on that journey, this new responsibility is incredibly exciting as it allows me to play a lead role in both harnessing client relationships, and further developing the great talent pool that sits within Flow. Two critical factors in future- proofing the agency’s success.”

Meanwhile, Jimmy Hyett, CEO at This is Flow, commented, “In such a volatile market, holding onto the best talent is a true indicator of a strong culture that exists within the agency, and I’m constantly inspired by seeing our team grow, both in size and experience.”

He added, “[Papasavva] has quickly built a reputation as one of the most passionate and influential emerging leaders in our industry. Highlighted by an enormous respect and admiration from all of our clients and staff, he has spearheaded the growth era of Flow and will continue to have a positive impact on the agency.”

Australia – Purebaby, Australia’s largest independent babywear brand has announced it is transforming its customer loyalty strategy with the power of cross-channel customer engagement solution Cheetah Digital.

Purebaby was on the hunt for a software solution that would enable them to send personalised email messages to their existing and prospective customer base and allow them to move away from ‘batch-and-blast’ customer emails. 

“You have a database, you’re sending them one electronic direct marketing campaign (EDM), and that was it.” Sanjay Gill, CEO at Purebaby, says, “With the old platform, we were not getting what we needed in terms of segmentation and personalisation. It felt as if we were not using our database to its fullest potential, so we decided we needed a change.”

Another issue Purebaby had with their old platform was their support team was based in the U.S, which meant the Purebaby staff never had face-to-face meetings and seldom spoke with their provider. Purebaby wanted a locally based team to liaise with to offer more custom and real-time support.

“One of our conditions we had when we were onboarding with Cheetah Digital was for the teams to talk on a regular basis. There was an endless number of sessions that happened between our teams where we mapped out critical journeys for our customers,” Sanjay explains. 

A transformative solution

In July 2018, Purebaby turned to Cheetah Digital, sat down and mapped out an entire customer journey to decide at exactly which touchpoints the retailer wished to interact with their customers. 

“During those sessions, we mapped out the entire journey. such as which touchpoints were especially sensitive and important to our customers, such as when they announce they’re having a baby, to having the baby,” Sanjay says. 

From those sessions, Cheetah Digital helped create a bespoke number of “series,” which were personalised EDMs aimed at their customers’ experience at each critical touchpoint:

  • Milestone series: For a baby’s first birthday, for example 
  • Welcome series: Welcoming a new customer
  • Size-up series: When the baby needs a bigger size of clothing
  • Due date series: For mothers about to give birth

Purebaby also tries to incorporate highly personalised EDMs for milestones such as a first birthday or a baby shower when parents give that specific information. 

“As an example, we mapped out the birthday journey,” Sanjay explains. “When the customer is having a birthday or the baby’s first birthday — there’s a whole journey regarding those milestones. A whole journey was mapped out by Purebaby and Cheetah Digital. There were specific campaigns built around it and those campaigns were triggered at different times.” 

Additionally, Cheetah Digital and Purebaby worked on a “welcome series,” so when a customer signs up to the loyalty program called “Pure Love,” there are a series of personalised emails sent to them. These aren’t marketing emails, they are beautiful, introductory, experiential messages, introducing the parent to the brand, and showing them why Purebaby is special and what products they offer. 

“Our loyalty program is data-driven, as you come into the store, you sign up and it’s offline and online. This means a customer could walk into our store or could go to the website, sign up, and the journey will be the same,” Sanjay adds. 

Purebaby also has a “size-up” trigger for parents with newborn babies informing them it may be time to buy the next size-up for the newborn’s clothes. 

“Receiving that email knowing the parents are busy and they may not have time to go to the shop, receiving that email is very helpful from the feedback we hear. It also gives them time to plan if they’ve placed the order, it will be delivered in 24-hours, it does help the parents,” Sanjay explains. 

The “due date series” is sent to mothers who tell Purebaby their due date and they are sent helpful content pre- and post-birth, such as hospital checklists. 

“We realised a lot of people were entering the parenting journey underprepared. The due date series is about helping parents be prepared, we send them the hospital checklist, we send them the first wardrobe checklist. If someone has done that work for you and it is a matter of purchasing it, it makes it easier. It goes back to making parenthood easier for customers and make the journey easier,” Sanjay says. 

Supporting revenue growth and adaptability during the pandemic

Since implementing Cheetah Digital, Purebaby’s revenue has grown 47% compared to the prior year. Its email channel has become Purebaby’s second-highest revenue-driving channel. 

Through engaging with Cheetah Digital, the “welcome series” EDM has a 50% engagement rate; the “due date” EDM campaign has a 70% open rate and 14% unique click rate and the “size-up program” is performing on par with the “welcome series” at a 50% engagement rate. 

Between November 2020 and October 2021, email accounted for 21% of Purebaby’s total revenue and 16% of its total traffic, in the same period a year prior, its email accounted for 19.5% of its total revenue and 15.8% of its total traffic. 

Like many brands, Purebaby was concerned about the pandemic when it first hit Australian shores in March. Their retail sales halted and their digital sales took off. Sanjay says Purebaby was slowly undergoing digital transformation and COVID accelerated it for them. 

“Within weeks, 90% of our sales were coming from digital, whereas previously only 10% of sales came from online retail,” Sanjay says. “Our retail versus online sales has now balanced to 50/50, the digital sales have not gone backwards, they are much higher but the retail is standing on its own,” Sanjay says.

“Having a good platform, especially a good engagement platform like Cheetah Digital where we were able to ramp up our engagement with the customer was important for us.”

Cheetah’s VP, Go to Market APAC, Billy Loizou, says it’s exciting to partner with innovative brands like Purebaby that are leveraging innovative loyalty programs to transform customer experience at scale.

“We’re thrilled to collaborate with such a global retail leader that is revolutionising how brands unlock the value of their data to help build meaningful, long-term relationships with their customers. We look forward to continuing our collaboration with Purebaby and are excited to see how the brand continues to evolve and grow.”

Purebay sits has been running for more than 20 years and began as a wholesale brand selling to the likes of Myer and David Jones. Its founders, husband and wife team Sanjay Gill and Mirabai Winford, wanted to create a timeless, quality brand that was functional and fashionable to the market.

In 2010, the business started its transition into retail. The company now has 23 stores in Australia and distributes to more than seven countries worldwide, including the U.S., U.K., and the Middle East.

Cheetah Digital is a cross-channel customer engagement solution provider that enables marketers to create personalized experiences, cross-channel messaging, and loyalty strategies.

Singapore – Outdoor Media Association (OMA), the peak industry body which represents Australia’s outdoor media display companies, have announced its new members, which includes shopping centre company Scentre Group, independent programmatic digital out-of-home (DOOH) adtech Hivestack, and health and wellbeing media network Tonic Media Network.

OMA also announced that Scentre Group and Tonic Media Network have joined as members of the industry’s audience measurement system, LOVE (measurement of outdoor visibility and exposure).

Scentre Group owns and operates a portfolio of 42 Westfield Living Centres across, which are some of the most frequented destinations in the region. Its in-house marketing solutions business, BrandSpace, connects brands and businesses to the Westfield audience through a portfolio of connected digital and physical touchpoints. Meanwhile, Hivestack specialises in the buy and sell-side of programmatic DOOH advertising. 

Lastly, rejoining OMA and LOVE, Tonic Media Network offers a health channel that reaches over 16 million Australians in GP waiting rooms and pharmacies each month.

Scott Moore, Scentre Group’s general manager for BrandSpace, noted that the membership signifies their support for the industry’s commitment to make it easier to plan and buy out-of-home media, through innovations in audience measurement and standardisation. 

“The enhancements to LOVE in measuring audiences in retail environments and on digital out-of-home assets will better enable us to help brands, retail partners, marketers and their agencies unlock the power of marketing within the Westfield environment,” said Moore.

Meanwhile, Watt Bushby, Hivestack’s managing director for ANZ and SEA, believes that the solutions OMA is building in areas like digital audience measurement and standardisation will provide the transparency and accuracy needed to take our industry to the next stage. 

“There is a big opportunity for marketers to harness the power of contextual targeting in programmatic DOOH and deliver even more effective campaigns. Innovations like LOVE 2.0 will go a long way in enabling that,” said Bushby.

Richard Silverton, Tonic Media Network’s CEO and managing director, said, “We’ve been watching the development of the LOVE 2.0 build and we’re really excited about all that the platform will offer. It is critical that our customers are confident that they are reaching the right people with the right message at the right time.”

In early November, OMA has revealed a raft of initiatives set to launch on 31 January at its first OUT-FRONT event. The rollout will include the interim audience measurement update LOVE 1.5, which will measure digital screens and provide a new metric based on neuroscience called the Neuro Impact Factor. In addition, standardisation guidelines will be introduced that will see the industry unite on common terminology, screen ratios, insertion orders, and shift to selling OOH by Share of Time. The industry also announced plans to move towards carbon-neutrality in 2022 by building a tool that gives advertisers the option to offset their OOH campaigns.

Charmaine Moldrich, OMA’s CEO, shared that the renaissance of outdoor advertising is showing no signs of waning, and this is further reinvigorating membership to the industry body.

“A lot of the work we do as an industry body is focused on our responsibility as a provider of advertising in the public space, of which sustainability is a vital part. Our aim is pledging to go carbon neutral as an industry is to set ourselves on that path of reducing emissions and waste, and to also be seen as a sustainable advertising channel doing our part,” said Moldrich.

Australia – Global comparison platform Finder has appointed David Meier, former director of product and experience design at global Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) company Zip Co, to be its new global vice president of product design.

Meier is an experienced leader in product design for technology-led businesses. During his stint at Zip Co, Meier has played a crucial role in the release of ‘Tap & Zip’, a product that drove exponential transactional growth. Aside from this, Meier has also headed up product design for property marketplace Domain.

In his new role, Meier will be assisting Finder as it continues to roll out new products and services, focusing on Web 3.0.

Meier said, “We’re literally on the cusp of a financial revolution, where the democratisation of finance lays on the horizon, and we’re in a position to help our customers join the dots.”

Finder has also announced the appointment of David Chen, former head of strategy and operations at AI-driven document intelligence platform Sypht, as its new chief legal officer.

Frank Restuccia, Finder’s founder and global co-CEO, believes that Chen and Meier’s backgrounds in high-growth technology-led businesses made them both standout recruits. 

“The next 12 months will be crucial to gaining competitive advantage in Web 3.0, and we know we need to move quickly to stay ahead of the market. We want to make sure we have the best talent and leaders on board to help us move towards not only helping people save money but invest and make money too,” said Restuccia.

In November 2021, Finder has promoted Taylor Blackburn, former head of media relations for ANZ, as its new head of public relations for the ANZ region.

Australia – Advertising agency Howatson+Company has appointed Hoang Nguyen, former director of digital and engineering at digital firm Appscore, to be its new chief data and technology officer.

Aside from his stint at Appscore, Nguyen has also held the role of executive director of engineering at full-service advertising company CHE Proximity, and the technical director at strategic design consultancy Deepend. He has also led teams and designed architectures for several blue-chip enterprises such as NAB and ANZ, Samsung, and Telstra, among others. 

Commenting on his new role, Nguyen said, “I’m excited to bring data and technology together, especially as privacy management becomes critical in meeting compliance requirements and managing brand reputation.”

Chris Howatson, Howatson+Company’s CEO, believes that great experience requires both data and technology as intertwined enablers, live and constantly talking to and responding to each other. 

“Hoang joins us with a remit to expand our technology offering and has already made an incredible impact to our clients, especially in the areas of data privacy, security, and marketing technology,” said Howatson.

Sydney, Australia – Local vitamin and supplement brand Swisse has launched its latest brand platform called ‘Reach for Your Reason’, which aims to encourage Australians to discover their motivation for creating and maintaining a holistic wellness routine. 

As part of the brand platform launch, a 30-second TVC has been launched, which is anchored on the insight that nothing drives someone like their deep-seated motivation; that is what keeps them going through all of life’s challenges. 

The brand platform goes further to communicate the message that while premium formulas and products can help people perform, people need purpose first and foremost, before they pick up a product. Whether one is physically or emotionally exhausted, digging deep within one’s self and finding the reason gives one the power to push forward.

https://youtu.be/JSWQkengfYg

For Kerrie Wade, marketing director for ANZ at Health & Happiness Group, the campaign is just the first moment in a series to encourage Australians to approach their health and happiness with a greater sense of personal meaning and instill a sense of possibility about what they can achieve.

“Swisse provides a foundation for achieving sustained health and happiness but to live a full life Australians must first understand what they’re living for. Once they’ve found that reason, together the possibilities are endless,” Wade stated.

The campaign was made in collaboration with Clemenger BBDO Melbourne, who was appointed as Swisse’s creative agency of record in July 2021.

Rich Williams, executive creative director at Clemenger BBDO Melbourne, commented, “We’re asking you to do one thing before you take Swisse, ask yourself why. Because Swisse is only part of the solution, it takes motivation and understanding to truly be successful on your health journey.”

The new brand platform launched this week with an integrated multivitamins campaign through TV, OOH, path to purchase, online and digital extensions, and is the first in a series of content that will highlight the brand’s extensive portfolio.