We ask five Australian marketing leaders to reflect on the marketing lessons they’ve learnt in 2019, to share the hurdles and also what they saw as their biggest achievements
Helping buoy optimism going into 2020 are the achievements marketers chalked up in 2019. A common theme running through milestones mentioned by CMOs was again being brave and bold.
“Our biggest achievement in 2019 was achieving stated outcomes and objectives when it comes to awareness and growth,” Hill says. “I’m really proud of the 2019 results we’ve had, and tourism is literally changing the skyline of Adelaide. We had a clear goal to be bold and grow our awareness and visitation, and we did that in spades, delivering one of the most talked about and successful campaigns we’ve delivered in the last few years.
“To grow our awareness of Adelaide four-fold, to have an ad seen by over half of the Australian population, and to generate record hotel occupancy in Adelaide – these are some amazing results, by taking a chance and being bold.”
Haysom sees her biggest achievement as continuing to champion brand and creativity “in a tough economic environment when the majority of the business is focused on short-term sales”.
“We’ve held the course, and proved to the business the positive impact of investing at a long-term brand level,” she says. “The results has been some great work across the portfolio.”
On the list are AAMI’s wins at Cannes for the Spotify ‘warning signs’ partnership and the Workplace equality award for the AAMI Queens campaign; effective partnerships and sponsorships including The Block and Team Girls with Netball Australia for Suncorp, and AAMI and the AFL; a partnership with News Corp for GIO and Suncorp to get bushfire safety content into the hands of customers within 24 hours, and a partnership with the Queensland Government and Jonathan Thurston to help Queenslanders get ready for storm season.
“These campaigns have not only built our brands, but delivered value to our customers,” Haysom says.
Davidson points to RACQ’s partnership with TMR and MAIC to tackle distracted driving in Queensland as her big achievement for 2019.
“Now, more than two-thirds of drivers are more likely to leave their phone alone and reduce their texting and social media use while driving,” she says, noting a key measurement of success for the initiative. In addition, the motoring group saw a more than 100 per cent increase in drivers using the ‘Do not disturb whilst driving’ feature on their mobile.
“This campaign is saving lives and having a profound impact on road safety in Queensland,” Davidson says.
Similarly, one of Clarke’s most memorable 2019 moments was reaching a national TV, radio and online news audience with its 2019 Indicators of a Thriving Workplace research into workplace mental health.
“We’re a not-for-profit with big aspirations to improve conditions, policies and support for workers across the country, so reaching an audience that big was fantastic,” she says.
And finally Boschiroli’s top achievement for 2019 was “skipping the complex”.
“We used technology to execute clever marketing strategies, while keeping marketing messages simple. Less is more,” he says. “Marketing campaigns made of a few, carefully selected keywords and strong visuals lead to more engaged and longer lasting customer-to-brand relationships.”
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