If Anny Havercroft could sum up the lessons of 2020 it would be to expect the unexpected, be more agile and, even with the best plans, be flexible in approach. “This requires a change of mindset as a leader in how we work - connecting with disparate teams and being empathetic to changing needs of customers by building marketing programs that are inclusive,” she said. “What doesn't change through any of this is the fundamental principles of marketing.”
For Martin Brown, the effect of COVID-19 has been to accelerate many existing trends, creating a fluid context that marketers needed to adapt to. "Our marketing team learned to lift speed, test and learn and trial new techniques previously discounted. It’s been a period of great learning,” said Brown.
In the telco world, you can't spend a dollar without a clear sales return. So taking a step back and seeing what Melissa Hopkins has achieved at Optus over the past three years, the telco CMO realised the major shifts and impacts marketing has had not only on the organisation, but on the brand in the wider marketplace - and the bottom line.
“I painted a brand mark on centre court of a Grand Slam mid-way through the tournament,” said Josie Brown. It was a dramatic, and symbolic, mark. “I barely dared to ask if we could paint “Australia is Open” on Rod Laver Arena, but with enormous support from the chief operating officer and tournament director, Craig Tiley. The impact was game-changing, not only for the reach of the message to the world, but also the cultural impact of how our purpose and values shaped our actions,” Brown said.
This year, Renee Garner did something she never expected to be doing as a marketer. "Penning a sassy little love letter to 572 of the amaysim family asking them to hold my hand, and bound into the sunset with a promise to each other that we will do the big things, the hard things, the little things, the courageous things, the ‘what’s right’ things, even if it hurts, to truly show BIG LOVE our customers,” Garner said.
One of the defining things of 2020 is the way it's affected businesses, pushing many rapidly into ecommerce and reinventing their whole marketing pitch along with it. "Some people are really hurting, but here we've had strong, unprecedented growth," Joel Goodsir told CMO.
This year, there were two key changes in Domino’s marketing it has never needed to do before - demonstrate the safety of its food preparation and delivery, including developing new operational methods like Zero Contact Delivery, and demonstrating why Domino’s should be trusted to continue operations when communities are in lockdown.
Pausing a high profile, multi-million-dollar campaign in-market soon after launch, and just as it was getting great traction, was both a heartbreaking but very necessary decision, for Susan Coghill and Tourism Australia. And it was just the first of many pivots in 2020. “Within a matter of weeks, we had created an entirely new domestic unit within our business and launched an entirely new campaign to galvanise the nation to support the tourism industry in its recovery from the impacts of devastating summer bushfires,” Coghill told CMO. “Exhausting and motivating at the same time.”
This year has shown Victoria Primrose how the geopolitical landscape, businesses and consumer priorities and perceptions have changed with COVID-19, along with the changing risk profile and where future opportunities will lie.
As the coronavirus crisis began to emerge, Budget Direct did something almost counter-intuitive. The challenger insurance brand decided it would still bring out its 20th anniversary campaign, despite the rising sense of uncertainty and upheaval. "We made the big decision to bring forward the campaign. To effectively swim in our own lane," Jonathan Kerr told CMO.
When it comes to marketing innovation, Jason Olive is clear about the three key ingredients, but they’re not the usual tools of the trade. “I know we could be talking about data or marketing stacks here, but I really think it comes down to three broad organisational principles - bravery, trust and insightful challenge,” Olive said
“A brand is, what a brand does,” said Martine Jager. As Westpac’s chief digital and marketing officer, Jager knows you can’t have a great brand positioning or strong brand consideration without trust in that brand. “This also translates into commercial outcomes as customers need to believe that the brand is a safe and secure place for their money – trust lies at the very heart of that,” she said.
All the latest martech and adtech news this week from Contentsquare, BigCommerce, TIBCO, Neustar, Sisense, Conversica, Wrike and Sendoso
All the latest martech and adtech news this week from Alida, SAP, Segment, Swaarm, Dun & Bradstreet, MessageGears and Sageflo, Pixability, Bonzai and Informatica
Seven West Media (SWM) is making a big data play, touting its first-party data offering with new audience insights, activation and measurement solution within 7REDiQ, along with second-party data partnerships and its new 2021 content lineup.
