With three new electric vehicles is its latest car line-up, the largest Countryman SUV ever offered, and a fresh product brand to educate consumers about, the job for the Mini marketing team just got a lot more complicated as the target audience and competitive set opens up. But for local marketing lead, Nikesh Gohil, building brand awareness still has to hold firm to what makes Mini unique first, and everything else comes second.
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AAMI and Ogilvy focus on ‘Athletes in the Making’ with new campaign
AAMI, in collaboration with Ogilvy, has rolled out a new campaign, ‘Athletes in the Making’. This is the second execution in the new AAMI brand campaign, which initially launched in March.
Lisa Ronson rejoins Australian CMO ranks, takes up Medibank chief marketing post
Former Coles and Tourism Australia CMO Lisa Ronson is returning to Australia’s marketing leadership ranks, taking the reins at Medibank with a remit to enhance customer engagement and drive growth. It’s going to be a meaty one for the experienced marketing chief, as the ASX-listed health insurance giant battles legal action for its 2022 data breach and has hard yards ahead to re-establish brand credentials and trust with customers.
From CMO to seven boards: Former Westfield, PepsiCo exec John Batistich’s view on marketing from the top, why ageism hits marketers, not finance and talking customer over brand counters marketing’s cost centre perception
Former PepsiCo, Kimberly-Clark, Interbrand and Westfield [now Scentre Group] marketer John Batistich transitioned to company board roles ahead of most – he’s now a non-executive director (NED) and advisor to seven boards, including the listed buy now pay later firm Zip Co, Muffin Break Bakeries and Jamaica Blue Cafes’ parent company FoodCo, Melbourne unicorn Moose Toys and Sydney-founded fashion label Ksubi International. Batistich has a helicopter view of what boards want from marketing functions, where the gaps remain – and crucially, what marketing can do to close them. In short, “become the expert on customer” because marketing is still seen as a cost centre; focus on “brilliant basics”, build better partnerships, and start working on capability models, because marketing’s capability gap is widening and Batistich sees major skills deficiencies – especially around personalisation for lifetime value.The range of his advisory roles also gives Batistich a broader economic worldview than most. He sees a cocktail of uncertainty facing brands over the next months – some of the firms he works with are already re-engineering supply chains in the likely event of a Trump victory and incoming tariffs. But he sees opportunity for some: Cosmetics, pharmacy and beauty are powering and are likely to be those investing harder in FY25. Marketplaces, department stores and fashion are feeling sustained pressure from more efficient, demand-led global platforms like Temu and Shein plus the pullback of financially-crunched younger generations that used to be marketing’s Holy Grail – but now appear less prized than wealthy retirees.Batistich also warns on AI – “both a significant threat to humanity, but also a huge productivity opportunity”. He’s the board member of a firm harnessing conversational design AI for the latter. Either way, it’s another rapidly developing field now crossing deep into marketer-customer remits – and boards are clamouring for intel.Amid all the short-term pressure, Batistich urges marketers to think longer–term. “Unlike the US election, ageism is alive and well in marketing,” he says. “You do need to have a plan, because that reality is going to hit you in the face on an idle Tuesday in your early 50s, when the organisation is seeking a succession plan or change.”
‘It’s magical’: How Crown Resorts’ Hawaiian sister Turtle Bay deployed AI ‘chunk by chunk’ to convince c-suite – revenues jumped 40%, conversions 20% and $400m gained
The Chief Commercial Officer of Hawaii’s iconic Turtle Bay Resort, Robert Marusi, was the AI and marketing superstar at a recent Salesforce marketing and commerce conference in Chicago where his plan to revolutionise the Hollywood darling that’s featured in blockbuster films like Hunger Games and Pirates of the Carbibean came in chunks to prove incremental revenue gains that reassured his nervous c-suite to try the next deployment. Turtle Bay has now “absolutely swept away our competitors to the point they don’t know what I’m doing. It’s magical”, said Marusi.
Flight Centre ups Pinterest spend 10x on sharper results, attention, trends-based targeting, costs – a channel marketers are underestimating and underweighting?
Rich consumer trend insights, API integrations with Salesforce Marketing Cloud to match data and advertising options that stretch across the funnel have led Flight Centre to up its investment into paid activity on Pinterest by 1,000 per cent. The platform is delivering “very competitive” ROAS as both reach-first and targeted audience plays pay off, says retail advertising leader for campaigns, Rachael Green. Even so, Hello Social head of data and insight, Daniel Hill says Pinterest isn’t commonly on the media buying plan for brands until they’ve exhausted other channels, hindered by a lack of awareness, bespoke creative and misperceptions of how attention works against other social channels. In fact, it’s a distinctly different option to social media, both insist, thanks to the search-based nature of how consumers engage with content in the platform.
Bendigo Bank forecasts RBA rate cuts in mid 2025, as probability of another hike rises
David Robertson, Chief Economist at Bendigo Bank, has maintained his long-held view that the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) cash rate will remain unchanged throughout the year in his his July Economic Update.
Former NRMA, Virgin, Wotif marketer Michael Betteridge travels onto c-suite, becoming chief commercial and operations officer for Travel the World
Former NRMA, Virgin marketer and travel and tourism executive, Michael Betteridge, has become the new chief commercial and operations officer for travel services provider, Travel the World Group.
Connected TV ad frequency up, screen strategies favour dOOH and digital video bundling, IAB report finds
Digital video advertising investment across all screens (mobile, desktop and CTV) is now a significant or regular part of marketing activity for 92% of advertisers, according to IAB Australia’s new Video Advertising State of the Nation Report.
Booktopia enters voluntary administration, explores sale and recapitalisation options
Booktopia Group and its subsidiaries have entered voluntary administration two weeks after calling a trading halt at the ASX-listed online retailer and amidst concerns for its financial future.