Stories by Brad Howarth

When Farzeen Quadir-Hegde joined Taipei-based technology maker, ASUS, as its head of marketing for Australia in October 2019, her goal was to localise what had previously been a headquarters-centric marketing program. Her timing was fortuitous however, with COVID-driven lockdowns soon highlighting the need for on-the-ground experience.

Australia’s gym and fitness industry took a hammering in 2020, with IBISWorld estimating social distancing and forced closures wiped out five years of strong growth. But despite the challenges, two-and-a-half-year-old Body Fit Training is on track to achieve three major milestones in the coming months.

For experienced digital marketer, Rich McPharlin, his decision to take on the CMO role at comparison service, Compare Club, was motivated by his positive impressions of the company’s culture and growth potential. But it was his recollection of his own experience with the business that led him to see the true opportunity it presented.

It seems even technology companies can run into customer management data issues. According to MYOB head of product and platform Jay Nawaz, product diversity had led to customer information residing in different places, which was causing problems for the company’s product development and marketing ambitions.

In the race to make interactions digital, one aspect of transacting has remained stubbornly troublesome – identity.

Grapevines may be incredibly fickle plants, but as 2020 has shown, grape growers cannot afford to be so demanding.

With a history that stretches back over 100 years, SPC has been a familiar brand in Australian pantries and on supermarket shelves. But the company had languished in recent years following its acquisition by Coca Cola Amatil in 2005, recording falling sales and significant losses.

​With 50,000 students studying more than 200 courses across five physical sites and one virtual campus, South East Queensland’s Griffith University is a large and complex organisation to manage.

It’s not often a technology which was once thought would signal the decline of an industry actually ends up revitalising it. But somewhere in the 2000s other technologies began to emerge that would start to describe a future for audio.

Of the many trends in marketing content that have emerged through 2020, one of the most common has been displays of empathy. But how well those messages landed probably had more to do with how people felt about the brands to begin with rather than the quality of the communications themselves.

The COVID-19 crisis had a devastating impact on numerous sporting codes in 2020, forcing cancellations and scheduling changes around the world. One of the legacies for the Australian Football League will be a greater focus on use of digital media to connect directly with fans – before, during and after the games.

While the rest of the world was cancelling events earlier this year, Bianca Bryson had a different idea.

Sometimes doing the right thing for your customers means stepping outside of the conventional practices of the organisation you represent. Daniel McDermott is one marketer who has taken on this challenge in the past year. As the marketing director for A/NZ at IT security company, Mimecast, he leads a team of 15 dedicated to building the Mimecast brand and driving sales opportunities.

While the software industry’s products may be virtual, physical activities still play an important role in forging connections with customers. So when the COVID-19 crisis hit Australia, Microsoft Australia’s CMO and communications director Pip Arthur and her team found themselves quickly readjusting to the new reality.

The legal sector is not commonly renowned for being a hotbed of innovation, let alone for progressive marketing thinking. But when LegalVision was founded in 2012 it was done so with the objective of turning that perception on its head and disrupting an otherwise staid industry.