Every year, StopPress asks players in the local industry for their reflections on the marketing year that was. Here’s what Jess Scott, marketing manager for the Marketing Associaton, had to say.
1. What is your favourite local campaign that isn’t yours
Tourism New Zealand’s ‘100 percent Pure New Zealand’ Campaign. New Zealander’s wish the world good morning from their favourite place in NZ and share via social with hashtag #goodmorningnz.
Using user-generated content on such a large and well-known campaign was a great move for Tourism New Zealand and showcases those little pieces of paradise we have in our own backyard that often get missed off tourists’ radar.
2. What is your favourite campaign that is yours
Women in Marketing 2019. This year we launched a brand-new event, something we hadn’t done in my time at the Marketing Association, so it was awesome to be part of something that had been in the pipeline for a while.
I can’t take all the credit for this one, it was a joint effort where the marketing team and events team brainstormed campaign themes and messaging and how we can translate that into an on-the-day experience.
We launched with the “We’re Women in Marketing” campaign, where we used our speaker profiles and photos as part of the campaign, including them at every step, and showcasing the strong and talented women transforming an industry.
3. What is your favourite international campaign
Spotify “2019 Wrapped” campaign. This has literally just launched this week (4 December) and I am loving it. I vibe with anything that can take my data and personalise it in such a way that is relevant and meaningful.
Music is a huge part of my life, so I spent the best part of last night going through my 2019 Wrapped playlist and being reminded of my year and experiences – they even went as far as showing my decade of music, talk about a trip down memory lane!
4. What is your least favourite campaign
I actually don’t know, I can’t think of any that stand out to me. However, I can say that I’m always going to have a ‘cringy’ reaction to being targeted by irrelevant messages, being followed around by items I have already just purchased, or when confronted by something that isn’t clear what the message is meant to be. If you’re part of that group, then you’re my least favourite – sorry!
5. What is your own biggest success in 2019?
There was a
period of time this year where I was the sole marketer at the Marketing
Association, for roughly 8 weeks. As a lot of people on our database know, we
have a lot of products to sell, and this was also during our busiest time of
the year for events.
I am proud to say I keep the marketing ball rolling for the MA during that
timeframe, I showed up and I delivered, which is something ‘10 years’ ago Jess’
wouldn’t have been capable of doing.
‘10 years’ ago Jess’ was struggling with balancing entering the workforce and having Cystic Fibrosis, and not knowing if a career was even possible. So, to be able to say that in 2019 I was heading up a marketing department, for one of the most awesome marketing companies in the country – and did that by myself for a few months, yup, I think that’s a big personal success.
6. For you, what is the most significant launch/innovation/thing of the year?
Such a small and highly personal thing for me, but ASB personalising their app honestly has changed my life!
I love the ability to customise dashboards, and ASB delivered on this for me. I am motivated to save just because I have a picture of a house for my “Buy a house” account. I like to look at my accounts, rather than be terrified to see what the damage is. Such a small thing in comparison to really big things going on this year, but for me, it’s all about being meaningful.
7. What should be un-invented?
Traditional management styles – it’s nearly 2020 and work/life balance is what we’re all striving for. The conversations around mental health have started and they’re here to stay, and stifling employees’ creativity with micro-management techniques and a culture of mistrust is how you end up with disengaged employees. #timesup
8. What do you think is the lamest trend?
Brands using tacky memes to get a reaction. That worked really well five years ago but now it just comes across as cringe-worthy and let’s stop doing this okay?
9. What are your best brands?
Air New Zealand – always. They have created a monster with me, if I don’t have an upcoming flight scheduled on the app, I feel out of place with the world and like something is wrong, therefore, I have to purchase another flight – it’s a cycle and I love it!!
10. Best stoush for you this year?
Have I reached that age where I don’t know what ‘stoush’ means?! That is terrifying, I’m not trendy at all!
11. Who are the Heroes?
I have to go a bit personal on this one and say Dilmah Tea and their founder Merrill J Fernando. The Dilmah Tea family are very dear friends to my family and this year Merrill has been advocating for ‘kindness’ in brands. Recently in a television interview with Breakfast TV, Merrill stated that you have to be kind to the people, always.
12. Who are the Villains
As a proud Kiwi, I have to say Facebook, it’s no secret that the live streaming of the Christchurch attacks in March should never have been able to go as far as it did and that I’m not alone in the wide-spread disappointment that has been felt since. However, it did prompt them to make some much-needed changes and I hope this is only the beginning of Facebook being tighter with their security.
13. What died in 2019?
Being able to say AR/VR/Digital Assistants/Chatbots were ‘things of the future’ – most of us spent so long coming up with reasons why that technology was unattainable, but this year has shown just how attainable those things actually are, and you can’t hide behind saying ‘that’s something to think about in the future’ any more.
14. What’s the biggest mistake marketers will make in 2020?
Not thinking about the brand. A lot of marketers are more and more specialised (myself included) but the core fundamentals of marketing are needed now more than ever, where every brand is competing for our eye-balls. There is nothing wrong with taking it back to basics, and those who forget about that will be making mistakes in smart marketing.
15: If there were no laws for 24 hours, what would you do?
I had to ask my colleagues what they would say here as I tend to follow the rules and hard to break that mindset, but…
In a marketing world, I would go against all best practise, opt everyone back in to receive comms who had unsubscribed, collect all their data and push messaging out to everyone who would listen – just cause!
If we’re talking about breaking any laws ever, I’d park anywhere in Auckland city that I’d want without paying for parking cause parking in the city is crippling!! Oh, and I’d also steal a Lemur from the zoo and have it as my new pet.
