25 years. I've been in marketing and advertising for 25 years. Fortunately, this time has been spent working and learning at some of the most interesting, talent-filled businesses on the planet. My sweet spot is building brands on a base of strategic marketing rigour, and then getting as innovative as I can on the tactics. Case in point, my last eight years have been as Director of Marketing and Communications at Mona - one of the most innovative startups imaginable.
Managing 30 brands for Mona owner David Walsh, a maths genius and risk psychopath, was challenging to say the least, but I was able to provide just enough marketing science to justify a heap of commercial stuff for all Mona's creatively driven brands. These brands included the sex and death museum (the Museum of Old and New Art), three wineries (Moorilla, Domaine A, Stoney Vineyard), a brewery (Moo Brew), a music festival (Mofo), four restaurants, eight bars, a fleet of giant camo ferries with fibreglass animals for seats, a recording studio with the mixing desk from Abbey Road, some barely legal spirit brands, and a bunch of super-finessed eComm and D2C to keep everything afloat.
In regards my career, while I started in marketing, I soon moved into the world of advertising, where I was able to travel the world working as a Creative Director at great agencies like DDB, Saatchi & Saatchi, Y&R, and BBDO. Over the years my work has been recognised at all the major award shows, but the high point was probably creating Mona's first ever brand campaign—The Best of Our Worst Reviews. Because it worked ridiculously well (increasing visitation by 25%), and in true Mona style left people knowing less about the museum than they did at the start. Even David loved it, and he hates advertising.
What's next for me? Not sure. But mischief and running amok must be involved.