Brand building and disruptive marketing key to new OneShift marketing chief
- 24 January, 2014 16:20
Embracing “disruptive” marketing techniques will lie at the heart of a strategic brand blitz being put together by the new and first head of marketing at Australian online jobs platform, OneShift.
Simon Porter was most recently the managing director of iris worldwide and has spent 18 years in the agency space in the UK, Europe and Australia with clients such as Sony, Vodafone, Microsoft, Shell, Adidas and Diageo. He is also an angel investor in a number of tech startups that use new technologies to disrupt mass communications markets and has plans to launch a seed investment fund for Australian tech start-ups this year.
Porter’s appointment as OneShift’s marketing director earlier this month comes after 18 months of rapid growth at the Sydney-based startup. OneShift provides an automatic matching system which pairs employees with businesses, and already has 270,000 job seekers and 25,000 businesses using its website.
Recently, the company secured $5 million in investment from staffing and facility management company, Programmed.
“I’m a big advocate of start-ups and disruptive technologies and OneShift is bringing an entrepreneurial approach and disruptive technology to a market place that has been pretty traditional,” Porter told CMO. “It’s a young company, and an ambitious project that I believe I can make a difference to.”
Porter will be responsible for overseeing public relations, digital, media buying, creative and social strategy for the online jobs platform. He said his focus is on reviewing what’s been done to date, interrogating the user and market data in-house, and coming up with a strategy that will improve acquisition of businesses and job seekers, as well as lift conversion rates on all matches.
“Part of that will be working on the profile of our job seekers and attracting quality in terms of that profile,” he explained.
Porter has a sizeable budget at his disposal and with a focus on brand building, sees national advertising and mass communication channels as key to building market awareness. However, he also stressed the importance of targeting through data, as well as embracing newer types of channels including mobile.
“I believe that as a challenger brand, we are a disruptor in the market place and our marketing should reflect what we stand for,” he said. “We want to be disruptive with our marketing approach, whether it includes mobile, digital stunt-based or traditional media, to help us gain a greater share of market.”
In a statement, OneShift founder and CEO, Genevieve George, said she was thrilled to have landed a talent of Porter’s calibre.
“While we’ve been delighted with our success to date, we have plans to ramp up our marketing efforts in a major way this year to supercharge our growth and expansion plans,” she said. “Simon’s significant experience with top local and global brands and evident passion for startups and industry disruptors will make him a huge asset to our growing OneShift team.”
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