Six questions: Andrew Moss

Today we bring you the very first installment of our SIX QUESTIONS series, where we ask a few fun questions to our friends in the industry to not only try and get to know them better, but maybe get a better insight into what marketing is for them. Today we have Andrew Moss from Pegasus Strategic, Insights and Brand Strategy. Here he is with our lecturer, Associate Professor Marylouise Caldwell.

I quickly learned that the Masters of Marketing was going to be a pretty hands-on course, filled with group projects, problem solving, class involvement – and best of all, Industry experts as guest speakers. This gives us one of the best learning experiences: hearing how they stuffed up. Well, maybe not so much ‘stuffing’ up, but how they overcame real life problems and situations. Andrew came and spoke to us about this experience rebranding the A-League and creating a new image for soccer in Australia, producing some of the best advertisements out there.

Andrew Moss:
1. What is your favourite thing that you do in a regular day as a marketer?
Being allowed to (by clients and colleagues) and paid to wonder.

2. Describe your job in 5 words or less:
Thinker, Dreamer, Finder, Problem-Solver

3. What keeps to motivated?
The innovation process – being invited to develop new ways of doing things – and the buzz that occurs when the thinking and planning works!

4. Where do you think you'll be in 10 years?
I would hope a wide variety of things – and certainly a bunch of creative type pursuits – personal and business.

5. If you were an animal, what animal would you be?
Tricky – maybe something like a sea eagle – scanning the environment, travelling large distances and looking for and seizing on opportunity!

6. What is the one book you would recommend everyone to read?
For business learning I think biographies of people are always good reading – and the one on Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson is well worth reading.

Hongi Luo
Current student in the Master of Marketing program at the University of Sydney Business School

“Branding You” Event at the New Business School in the CBD

Last week, a showcase reception was held in the new Business School CBD Campus. Being a student of the Masters of Marketing, we are often privy to events such as these that provide invaluable networking opportunities, as well as a chance to broaden our knowledge and insight.

I’ve got to be honest, the canapés and beverages always draw me in, but I always leave with more than just a satisfied tummy. The highlight of “Branding You” was around a panel discussion between three leading marketing practitioners around the topic of personal brands. We had explored this in class before with Pennie Frow, but it was great to hear a lot of these aspects from real life experiences. Being somewhat of a hot topic at the moment, there was definitely a lot to discuss.

The panel was:
Christine Bishop, the Managing Director of Social Business Strategy Group, specialising in the areas of social media, strategic marketing, branding and business strategy. She is also a recent Executive MBA Graduate of the Business School.

Mike Read, HR and Corporate Culture Director, Starcom Media Vest, Australia’s largest Media Agency.

James Watson, one of our first class Honours graduates in Marketing. James has had a meritorious career with Procter and Gamble in Australia and Singapore, Reckitt Benckiser in Australia, the UK and USA and PZ Cussons in Australia. 

Christine, Mike and James lead the panel discussion about using appropriate marketing tools to create “Brand You”, a critical factor in meeting the challenges of today’s highly competitive employment marketplace. We were lucky enough to harvest more than a few pearls of wisdom from the esteemed panel, and in the coming weeks, will share with you what we learned from each of them - So keep an eye out!

Thanks to the University of Sydney Business School, Program Director Pennie Frow and particularly Associate Professor Terry Beed for putting on the event and allowing us the chance to engage with such an amazing group of people.

Hongi Luo
Current student in the Master of Marketing program at the University of Sydney Business School

The end of one journey and the beginning of the rest of our lives

As I sat in the Great Hall of the University of Sydney on graduation day waiting patiently for my name to be called so that I could collect the degree that I had earned with its fair share of sacrifices along the way, I thought of what Graduation from the Master of Marketing Program at the University of Sydney meant to me. My immediate thoughts were: an upgrade in my LinkedIn profile, a few pictures on Facebook, and something new to frame and hang on the wall.

Past the short term posts on social media, what this degree has really offered me is a change in direction. A second chance. The opportunity to start a career better suited to who I have become beyond the Bachelor degree that I obtained about a decade ago.

When I started the program over a year ago I wasn’t entirely sure that I had made the right decision to continue my education. The idea of not working full time (although a number of my classmates continued their full time employment while doing the program) and getting back into assignment writing and presentations was quite daunting. Now that I’ve graduated, I can honestly say that doing this degree was the best thing that I have done.

I have drawn as much from the lecturers and industry specialists that have presented in class as I have from interacting with fellow classmates from a wide variety of professional backgrounds. Hands-on exercises and engaging lectures always made me look forward to attending class.

And as the 2013 graduating class gathered outside the Great Hall after the ceremony to congratulate each other, we took a moment to savor our accomplishments by tossing our hats in the air. Then we all rushed back to work to begin the rest of our lives.

Have you considered applying to the Master of Marketing program at the University of Sydney?

Mina D’Souza
Current student in the Master of Marketing program at the University of Sydney Business School

What’s happening in Innovative Marketing Strategy class?

We are nearing the completion of the unit on Innovative Marketing Strategies. The unit coordinator, Professor Donnel Briley (Chair of the Marketing Discipline), has imparted his truly global interpretation of marketing strategies. Having lived and studied in North America, Europe and Australia, Donnel’s vast cultural experiences are exemplified through the cases studies he presents.

My favorite part of class is when we contrast regionally or culturally dependent marketing strategies versus strategies that have a more universal appeal. There seems to be no ‘one size fits all’ when it comes to marketing strategies as human needs and social boundaries define humor and success from one region to the next.

In this economic climate, marketers can be faced with developing marketing strategies that can be easily adapted to be suitable for varied cultures. Has there been a marketing strategy that has really struck you as universally appealing?

When’s the best time to return to University?

Is there really a best time to return to university? After a few years into your career you might begin feeling less sense of achievement. Perhaps the challenges you originally thrived on are gone. The determined amongst us are contemplating our next move. That could involve a change of careers, or perhaps even climbing a rung or two higher on the career ladder.

Many people who feel this way have reached a crossroad. Their options include either continuing what they are doing or to return to study to advance their career. How old is too old to return to university as a post grad student? It seems that the average age for a post-grad student in Australia is 35 years old. Rather than benchmarking yourself against that number, perhaps it’s better to think about what you want to achieve by having a postgraduate qualification.

What are the benefits of doing a post graduate degree such as a Masters of Marketing early in your career life as opposed to after 10 years of work experience?

The Different types of Creativity in Marketing

For one of our final group projects for the Master of Marketing, we were given the chance to not only design a marketing campaign but also the actual product we wish to bring to market with our campaign. I mentioned about this in the post about A visit to Smart. This project was very exciting for me because I can finally find the connection between marketing and design. Yay!!!

In preparing for the project, we had countless group meetings, research briefs and brain-storming sessions, as well as useful guest speakers to open our eyes to the possibilities of creating a great campaign for a product we came up with. Three weeks after we handed in our brief we had an intensive concept generation session with 5 creative directors. Three of them were from Smart and they were all very helpful from different perspectives.

They shared experiences about everything, but they all stressed on the method of presentation. How well we can express our ideas and sell our product. But our focus at the time was to come up with the product first.

Our product was a bike sharing system and slightly controversial due to the helmet laws and geographical limitations in Sydney (that being very hilly). After sorting that out (well the helmet issue kind of sorted itself out and we decided to use the Audi concept bike designed by Arish Karimi to combat the hills of Sydney.) we had to decide the art directions of the campaign, the budget and sponsorship allocations, and finally what advertising mediums to use. Our final poster (print is a mandatory medium for this project) is in line with current fashion trends as you can see below, and we placed a heavy emphasis on social media because our single minded proposition is ‘Share your ride”.

Our final campaign poster

Finally we had to put together the presentation. This was the most frustrating part as all the fun for me was in designing the product and the marketing campaign, but it HAD to be done and done well, otherwise all our hard work and creativity will not be seen. This perhaps took us the longest to do because we came up with this product and campaign, so we have countless things to say about it. How to put it into a 20 minute presentation with equal emphasis on the main areas and to cover every aspect was the most difficult part.

Our postcard/coaster/sticker concept

In doing this project for the Master of Marketing program, we not only understood the importance of creativity in the field of marketing, but also how to express this creativity in a form that the audience can comprehend. The collaboration of various forms of creativity is also very important for us as creativity in presentation methods is something I lack, and luckily someone else in the group is able to fill me in.

Successful campaigns are usually the memorable ones such as those I have mentioned in my previous blog posts. And I think our project is far from being comparable with those, but it was an extremely memorable experience for us and a great piece of work to put in our portfolio.

We’re letting people try the service for $1 to generate buzz and increase awareness

So if anyone is interested in knowing more about this project please do not hesitate to contact me. Also I will be in China for the next three weeks for Christmas and New Year. So I’ll keep my eye out for any interesting marketing tricks while I’m there. Till next time, happy holidays, be well and stay lovely!

A Visit to Smart

Hello everyone!

The Master of Marketing program at the University of Sydney Business School aims to have a balance of academic and industry knowledge to cover all aspects of marketing, in-house or agency based. At the beginning of semester two, we were given the chance to attend a re-enactment of a creative pitch Smart did for Appletiser.

Smart is a full service creative agency with offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Queensland and Auckland and key clients include Coca-Cola, DrinkWise, Specsavers, Horticulture Australia, Betstar and the NSW, Victorian, Queensland and Federal Governments. Smart acquired The Foundry in 2010 and aims to become Australia’s biggest independent agency. This seems to be a growing trend and preferred business model in the marketing industry as seen in many case studies we came across in the Master of Marketing course.

An article about Smart on Mumbrella, Smart CEO Ben Lilley comments on this business model stating: "This marks Smart’s fourth acquisition in as many years (including Kindred in Sydney and Turner Sands and Logan Meo Walters in Queensland). We have now refined a mergers and acquisitions model that is proving very successful for our own business, our clients and the businesses we have acquired. This model is proving hugely effective in allowing the talent in each agency we acquire to realise the equity value in their companies, while allowing them to work on in an independent creative offering.”

The event was held at their cosy Sydney office near central station around 6pm. They provided light snacks and refreshments upon arrival, and the whole creative team was nice enough to stay back to attend the presentation.

We were greeted by the creative director Daniel Gregory - who is a part of the panel on Gruen Transfer (please read my piece on Gruen if you haven’t done so), and client services director Nicole Gardner.
in the concept being presented.

Daniel Gregory on the Gruen Transfer

Youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wej9JVbQk1U

We were then introduced to the team and presented with the campaign as they would to the client, using graphics, animations and other visual tools to help us understand the concept. The presentation was casual and interactive, and we were also given a brief history of the agency and what they do to set the scene.

Question time was allowed at the end of the presentation and all the team members jumped in to answer questions related to their area of expertise. The presentation really highlights the importance of teamwork; everyone must thoroughly understand and believe.

The visit was not purely for entertainment purposes. We’re required to watch the presentation carefully, taking notes and asking questions to prepare for two assignments later. The first is an individual assignment which asks us to write a review for the pitch including a score card rating system by AANA. This assignment is analytical bases and focus on attention to detail.

The second assignment is a group assignment aimed to develop a marketing strategy to launch a brand new product in a specific category (which I will write about later). This assignment is more creative and strategic based, covering areas of product design, campaign design and marketing research to come up with the most suitable campaign for the product which appeals to the target market.

In the Master of Marketing program and evident in those two assignments, we are required to think ahead and review the presentation provided by Smart from both the client perspective and the agency perspective. This pitching presentation also sets the bar for the quality of work required at a professional level, which is useful whichever side you decide to work for in the future. These assignments are just one of the ways The Master of Marketing at The University of Sydney combines theory with industry knowledge and experience.

This marks the end of this blog post, hope you enjoyed reading it.

Attending the filming of Gruen Transfer

As part of our “get to know industry” type events for our Integrated Communications Subject in the Masters of Marketing course, Steve James our lecturer organised an educational evening of advertising goodness. Other than the usual insightful and creative content this great show offers, we were given the chance to have our 3 seconds of fame in the audiences on national television.

First time attending the filming of a show and filled with excitement, all 13 of us in the class turned up on time and we managed to act like adults in the ABC lobby. Upon entering, half of us were moved to the last row so we don’t look like an obvious cluster on TV, and our path to stardom have ended for the time been.


 

Back to the more realistic things in life. The topic of the day was billboards. Billboards are one of the oldest forms of advertising mediums but are ever-changing thanks to great creativity and technology advances. Honourable mentions include the New Zealand road safety billboard by Colenso BBDO advertising agency for the Papakura & Franklin District Council that “bleeds” in the rain to remind drivers to slow down during bad weather conditions. The billboard was released in June 2009 and was highly effective.

New Zealand road safety billboard

Now more on the technology side of things. Digital billboards are becoming increasingly mainstream and is highly effective in attracting attention by interacting with the audience. Not mentioned on the show but definitely one of my favourite is the McDonalds PicknPlay by DDB Stockholm, Sweden. Paired with geo-marketing and using a large digital billboard in the heart of Stockholm, DDB created an interactive challenge where the audience can pick and play for their favourite McDonald's goodie. Simply steer the paddle by using the touch-screen on their phone as they follow the game in real time on the large digital screen. If the player last 30 seconds they win their goodie of choice. A digital coupon is sent to their phone, with directions to collect their prize at the nearest McDonald's.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7u0ij9D5S4Y

Overall it was a very fun and memorable experience. Wil Anderson was absolutely charming and the panel really captured the essence of the topics from different perspectives. Some of us got our 3 seconds of fame because they sat in the front row but for the rest of us who got moved to the back, we got to relax and enjoy the show. You can catch the latest episodes of Gruen on ABC1 9pm Wednesday nights and 8:30pm on ABC2 Thursday nights. Or view online at ABC.net.

This marks end of my first blog entry.

I found the Marketing course that I am doing filled with interesting guest speakers and opportunity to go on educational trips to meet industry including Google HQ and award winning creative agencies, which I will blog about as I go. I will finish the course in 2012 so if you think you have what it takes to help me continue building this resource library of marketing goodness, or if you have any questions, please feel free to leave me a comment.

Cheerio!

Marketing Matters

Hello everyone! This is the first blog entry for Marketing Matters, the Master of Marketing blog and I’m Erin, your writer. Nice to meet you all!!!

The reason for doing this blog is to create a small collection of current marketing materials around us throughout the Master of Marketing course in 2011-2012. Some entries are about interesting marketing case studies, others about the work we do in class and for assignments and the rest are just bits and pieces from design, technology and marketing. In creating this blog, I wish to help current and new students understand the Masters of Marketing course better, through the eyes of a full-time student.