Tag: brisbane - Page 2

I'm sitting at the airport about to hop on my next plane. I dress the same way every flight for comfort; a Nike pant, Armani knit, Nike shoes and jewellery. I wear a scarf to lift the outfit just in case my luggage goes missing at the other end, and I always pack a pair of heels in my hand luggage. I am ready.

We have the most amazing marketing internship program, and the biggest benefit for us is the privilege to see people grow in confidence and capabilities. The fact that after an internship they should be able to go out into the world and add value to any entry-based marketing position, is something that we are extremely proud of.

Just when I thought I was getting comfortable with millennials, I have been bombarded with a new type of marketer in the office.

Everyone is busy doing budgets for the next financial year, and setting sales forecasts, while marketers are frantically trying to ensure that marketing strategies are in line with the results that management are looking for. What is most important is the ability for companies to read the market, understand what customer want, and easily communicate why they should choose a particular company over another.

Marketing Eye is fine-tuning our 2018/19 marketing strategy for Australia, ensuring that we don't just focus on Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Townsville, but also other States in Australia with a firm goal of opening offices in Adelaide, Perth, Canberra and New Zealand.

I'm embarassed to say that I have let down my readers because I have been so busy working on innovation and developing the Marketing Eye business, that I haven't had a minute to scratch myself. I don't think that I have ever taken so long to write a marketing blog in the entire history of Marketing Eye, and I've missed it as much as you may have.

There was once a real reason why big agencies had such a stronghold on anyone serious about marketing their company - but somehow that has fast become something of the past.

When I started out in agency world, it was the big brand agencies who every company wanted looking after their brands. Fast track 20 odd years, and now it's the small agencies and startups that are completely disrupting the market.

This morning, I decided to have breakfast at my favourite cafe, Hobba Prahran before heading to the office. I sat at Hobba with a big smile on my face. I have spent the past month with my teams in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Atlanta and it has been amazing.

The energy in each office, stand up meetings, pride in their work, on-boarding of clients and in general, their 'nice-ness' is beyond anything you would ever expect in an office environment.

I had a particularly stressful period of time. Hackers had attacked our business and we were leaking cash like no tomorrow. I handled it great for the first three days, then I fell apart. I felt like it was all too much. My life is full and to add that type of stress to my life, I felt overwhelmed. It was certainly challenging.

My team could see that I was stressed, and on my last day in the Melbourne office prior to heading to the US, the team wanted to celebrate my birthday. I asked them if they would mind if we didn't celebrate my birthday and celebrated just Christina's instead.

What makes our agency special? It's a question that I am asked frequently, and it always makes me think "what is it that is our secret sauce?". What makes us different from the marketing company down the road?

I'm a Queenslander through and through. Well, kind of. I am from an immigrant family who settled in Queensland, and even though I haven't lived there for 15 years, it is still a place I call home.

Marketing Eye began its journey about 13 years ago, and since then, we have built the business, as a team, into different States and Countries, which has been incredibly exciting. Who doesn't want to fly to New York for a business trip, or to Amsterdam? Even places like Atlanta and Los Angeles have their benefits. I certainly have a few perks up my sleeve from the many miles I travel, but it's not all glamour - and that is something most frequent travellers can attest to. In fact, there is little glamour other than what you see on Instagram and Facebook, and a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes. A reality few of us a willing to admit let alone share.

As a entrepreneur who has a belief that you should always finish something you start, I am hell-bent on Marketing Eye's global expansion, and the only thing that holds the company back is my ability to travel more often given that I have a dog at home to look after.

Baring this in mind, we expanded to the US, and have done so in a way that we can trial operating remotely and within a management style that is conducive to me getting enough sleep and being present to whatever team I am working with at the time.