Stories by Brad Howarth

Cotton On might be a well-known brand in Australia, but that is not the case in each of the seven regions where it sells online. So when it comes to reaching new customers in markets such as the United States, the company has turned to affiliate marketing specialist, Rakuten, to reach its desired audience.

There is well-worn Venn diagram that describes three overlapping circles of ‘good’, ‘fast’ and ‘cheap’. The central point is usually labelled ‘impossible’. But that hasn’t stopped many brands trying to claim at least two of those attributes, if not occasionally all three – and failing badly.

Small businesses can be a notoriously difficult group to reach, with business owners often unwilling to part with their funds without an incredibly compelling reason. So when tax accounting specialists H&R Block decided to ramp up its approach to this sector, it decided to go where small businesses already are.

With Australia’s mandatory data breach reporting laws being officially implemented in February 2018, marketers across the country are facing two big responsibilities. Not only is their prized customer data a major theft risk, it is also marketers who will be left with the task of cleaning up any brand issues should their organisation need to report a breach.

While much of the Australian retail landscape has worked itself into a lather this year thanks to the onshore arrival of Amazon, for one local company, the US-based giant has been a factor in its life since the very beginning.

Blockchain is rapidly capturing the imagination of the business community, exploding beyond its origins underpinning Bitcoin to become the proposed solution to all manner of transaction-based processes. Now one entrepreneur is planning on using it as the basis for a service that will connect businesses seeking promotional and affiliation services with influencers.

Brian Andrews likes to joke that he is the Forrest Gump of the Net Promoter Score movement, always turning up at seminal moments in its development.

Even when Tamara Dull is home on her own, she is never really alone. Throughout her house are scattered more than 100 home AI devices and controllers that help her do everything from monitor and control her environment to buy groceries.

For years, marketers have talked about brands as having personalities. Now they have the tools to bring those brands to life – virtually at least.

Millennials are a highly influential group when it comes to making recommendations on home electronics. But they are also notoriously difficult to reach through traditional advertising.

Sorry is a word that few brands like to say. But there is a good chance brands in Australia will be apologising more often come February 2018, with the Australian Government introduces new rules for mandatory data breach notification.

​Facial recognition promises to deliver a new era of personalised service at retailers and services providers – if only consumers could get past their fear of Big Brother.

Anyone who has worked in a design agency will be familiar with the bottlenecks that can block up a workflow.

The digital era has been hard enough to come to grips with. But at its heart the term ‘digital’ is rooted in a very simple binary code of ones and zeros.

It’s not always possible for a brand to provide personalised contact through every engagement with a customer. But for workplace injury insurance provider, Employers Mutual Limited (EML), it may have found the next best thing.