Eventbrite head of marketing Josh McNicol promoted to regional marketing role

Eventbrite head of marketing, Josh McNicol, has been promoted to general manager for Asia-Pacific and will lead a team of more than 35 staff across its regional offices spanning Melbourne, New Zealand and Singapore.

McNicol, who relocated back to Australia after working in Silicon Valley, was previously head of brand for global payments technology company, Square, in San Francisco, after initially launching the business into Australia as its first local head of marketing. He has also led marketing and digital teams at Temple & Webster and The Australian Ballet.

With a passion for customer-centric marketing, McNicol said he's focused on brand storytelling and strategy, customer acquisition and launching new brands into new markets. He said his marketing and business experience provide “two key strengths”.

“I’ve spent the bulk of my career in fast-growth tech startups and that means having a commercial mindset in relation to marketing, like creating positive ROI and tracking marketing back to growth. It's also built my skills and expertise around launching new brands,” he told CMO.  “I also have experience in team leadership that comes from leading large teams and across marketing, business development, support, operations.”

Eventbrite, which launched a local office in 2014, says it’s reached a milestone of hosting 1 million Australian events, with one in four Australians having attended an event ticketed by the company. In terms of its local APAC marketing strategy, McNicol said it has three key pillars. Firstly, to ensure activities locally and stemming from global initiatives have an Australian feel.

“We’re a satellite team with global headquarters but we’re the brand champions and interact with creators and event organisers with the right tone and understand the needs of the Australian market," he said. "The big focus over the next 24 months is a focus on brand.”

The second pillar of Eventbrite's marketing strategy is a particular focus on music and McNicol said the marketing team is heavily focused on innovation. Its partnerships with Spotify and Facebook, for example, will be key.

Finally, the usual marketing playbook of acquisition and retention is part of its forward focus. But rather than put the spotlight on event attendees, it's event organisers Eventbrite wants to build on its books.

“How are we discovering new event creators and new event trends is key” McNicol said. “We’re refining our acquisition and retention channel, working with new partners, and finding new partners.”

Supporting these efforts will be a growing marketing team focused on consumer and creator experiences, McNicol added.

Eventbrite recently released a snapshot of 450,000 Australian events held between January 2018 and June 2019 around the country. The insights show New South Wales can claim more sporting events and festivals and gin is the preferred tipple for event for Sydney, while there are more vegan events in Melbourne. Astronomy tours, meanwhile, are trending in the Top End.

Away from its marketing plans, the platform sort of rides the zeitgeist of entertainment and events and its global and local focus is all about playing to its strengths. Eventbrite said McNicol can see the changing tastes in local events through the platform and as a global outfit, is it's in a unique position to track emerging event trends in the US and Europe and work to anticipate those trends when they come to Australia. 

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