Tasmanian Times live blog of the Tomorrow Conference. We’ll be blogging live or as near as possible from the conference throughout today. (‘Scuse any typos, which we’ll endeavour to correct live and retrospectively. Most recent posts first.)
Panel discussion now with Brand Tasmania, Jess Radford, and the Devils and Kath McCann, talking about place-based marketing. I’m wondering about social licence, ecology and Tasmanian Aboriginal folk, again missing from the convos. (Although, to her credit, Jess R gave a fulsome and genuine tribute to the Tasmanian Aboriginal community.)
Two Brand Tasmania slides feature the Franklin River – Rock Island Bend – probably its most iconic and potent part. And the other slide features the Pieman River in takayna / the Tarkine. I’ll let readers draw their own conclusions.
Always blows me away that Brand Tasmania makes no mention of nature. However, these are the brand values – although the slide went a bit wonky so might not be transcribed entirely right:
- authenticity and community
- quiet pursuit of the extraordinary
- collaboration
- heritage
- quality
- adaptation
Jess talking about created a statutory place branding organisation. Details here: https://tasmanian.com.au/brand-tasmania/
Now it’s acting Brand Tasmania CEO, Jess Radford, talking about “What do you do with a place brand?”
- Data – you need quant and qual
- Brand – know your brand
- Content – it’s a beast – content is hungry and hard and you need capacity. Have to invest in it.
- Narrative – you need a story
- Impact – don’t under-estimate it – you need to do good
- Authenticity – just own it
- Leadership – need to look beyond the old ways of leadership
Hard to square the fact that the Devils are currently a footy club, are a start up but “don’t exist” without the stadium. It appears the club already exists but hey…
This is what the rest of the arvo looks like
- 2.30pm The journey to first bounce by Kathryn McCann
- 3.05pm What do you do with a place brand? by Jess Radford
- 3.30pm Panel hosted by Amanda McEvoy, featuring Kathryn McCann and Jess Radford
- 3.55pm Panel hosted by Toni Kibbey, featuring Monica Plunkett, Andrew Timbs and Liam Kearns
- 4.45pm Generative AI: Beyond the hype by Simon Tyrell
- 5.45pm Event wrap-up lead by Dan Canham
Interesting descriptor of Devils as a “start up”. It’s a start-up that could have a guaranteed income, support of both main parties, huge sports organisations and 200,000+ ‘founding members’. We still need to create a footy department.
What comes next? It’s a start up, right? When we get to first bounce, we’ll have 120 staff. Staff engagement continues.
“We have no sponsors yet because we want to keep it clean.” – Kath McCann
Kath reveals that of the 200,000+ founding members, 100,000 were from Tasmania and, of that, the majority were women.
One of biggest, proudest moments, just before the launch: local communities were about to launch their local AFL clubs. No one leaked it to the media – a big learning is trust, trust in local community.
First action was a survey – quant and qual – ie quantitative survey and a qualitative survey. Marketing 101.
Wow. Hype reel number two – in the same presentation.
Big lesson: Can spend a lot of time navel gazing and strategising – but get your north star in place and people motivated and a lot can happen.
Kath is talking about “journey to the first bounce”. Will share what she’s learned over the last 18 months.
Kath talking about crying in front of national media – triggered by a question from the media about stadium and young people.
Third hype reel of the day. Can sportswashing be used for sport??
First comment is pretty hilarious: “Sport is a great unifier”!
Right. Guess who’s up next? Kath McCann, marketing MD, Tassie Devils.
How can the guy who makes window louvres give the speech of the conference (thus far)? How can the guy who makes louvre windows be the one who says purpose matters more than profit? What a cool speaker! Go Lee!
Beyond Profit – “profit is not the purpose, impact is.”
“Don’t wait for perfection to act.” – Lee Rust
How to balance family with growth. Business can bleed into every part of your life. Some good advice – make time for your kids.
Sustainability isn’t about marketing, it’s about action.
We launched a collective called Suppliers Declare – https://www.suppliersdeclare.com/
“As a manufacturer, I can drive change about huge emissions from building sector.” – Lee Rust
Mr Rust’s business is Safetyline Jalousie – great name! Company sells blinds, louvered windows etc. https://safetylinejalousie.com.au/
Now: Leigh Rust speaking on Beyond Profit – Balancing, Growth, family and purpose-driven success.
We’re back on! Suffice to say addresses from Cameron and Lisa from, respectively, Canva and Wedgetail was super-inspiring. But, you know, Chatham House rules so it’s got to remain off limits.
So I’ll briefly be going offline. Back soon.
I’ve been asked not to blog/report/write about the next section featuring Cameron Adams. (Lisa Miller has had to miss the conference at the last minute.)
“Unmasking the leadership for the future”. With the ASX, you’re always in the public. On the future of the ASX, with changing tech, how can companies engage with shareholders in real time?
Advice on public vs private companies:
- ASX – transparency is mandatory
- Accountability to many stakeholders – ie several thousand shareholders
- Speed & decisiveness in crisis – in Lark crisis, had to respond within hours
In 2022, the Australian newspaper called Laura with a story about a senior member of the company and illicit drug use.
When Covid hit, instead of going travelling, Laura moved to Lark Distillery.
Went to start the Maggie Beer food company. Struggled to keep family vibe and authenticity while scaling it up. Blending ambition with tradition.
Laura explained that she was removed from the role. Went on a training holiday thingo in Spain, with a bunch of other CEOs. She was shocked that CEO of Calvin Klein didn’t give a shit about Bellamy’s.
But then Chinese govt changed rules and our sales went backwards.
There was an insatiable demand for our products but we couldn’t keep up with *organic* supply ie milk.
By 2016, revenue was $240m!
First day – went from $1 share to $1.30 – which is apparently big.
Bellamy’s benefited from melamine scandal in 2007-08. “Took off like rocket” – from $3m to $28m. Listed on stock exchange in 2014.
Laura talking about her involvement with Bellamy’s Organic. Baby food co. Family run but investor owned. Laura has an accountancy background. Asked to stay on as GM. $3m turnover but big loss. Clear that couldn’t do it in Australian market because there weren’t enough babies! Hence… China! 25m babies a year.
Talk will be about companies working in ASX. I think “unmasked” might be about what it’s like to work in ASX company, rather than revealing any dirty ASX-related laundry – but let’s see…!
Laura kicks off my announcing that she has four sheep. Good to know.
Not sure what “ASX unmasked” will be about but it seems like it could be timely – given yesterday’s news that the corporate regulator, ASIC, is investigating the ASX, reported multiple outlets & platforms including Reuters. Sounds pretty serious. ASIC said it is investigating “governance, capability and risk management frameworks and practices across the [ASX] group”.
Next session looks like it will move away from traditional marketing – ie the flogging of things – to meatier topics.
Next session:
- 11am ASX unmasked by Laura McBain
- 11.45am Panel hosted by Kim Millar, featuring Cameron Adams and Lisa Miller
- 12.45pm Beyond profit by Leigh Rust
- 1.10pm Panel hosted by Chris Murphy, featuring Oliver Garside, Leigh Rust, and Ben Lovitt
Smoko!
Andrew: a product brought back into store. If we can’t fix it, we send them the product to remake other things – like deckchairs and tents. Part of the Re Bird program. Over next two year – we repair to its full original quality. You’ll be able to buy the products that we take back off you and will go back into our stores. Question is super important – it’s at the top of my priority list.
Bill Harvey asks the first question – asks what Arc’teryx is doing to remove plastics and toxic chemicals from its products?
Andrew is talking about his son who has autism and a charity called Hidden Disabilities. https://hdsunflower.com/au/
How is the best global retail adapting? – The implication is that it’s adapting by being the following:
- authentic
- proposed driver
- local
- educational across the channels
I think by adapting, what this question refers to is how retail is adapting to sell things differently / innovatively and to connect with consumers.
Core climbers. Newbies. Walkers. Events are “super important”. You can book them online. Another #SpruikAlert
“Retail stores are the hub of our community”.
Arc’teryx value is also to “live it”. We want you to use our products for outdoor activities. It’s a super-premium product.
And now the answer to how is retail adapting…? To what, Andrew, to WHAT??
By the way, the audience is stacked with heaps of UTAS marketing students.
Had to Google omni channel – which is apparently:
“a business strategy focused on providing a seamless and integrated customer experience across all available channels, both online and offline”. (I think this means flogging stuff everywhere…!)
This is what Mr Snowball talking about:
- Retail: Standout omni channel
- People: Great place to work.
- Service: Exceptional experience
A quick check and Arc’teryx tagline isn’t without foundation. Google’s AI tells me the company is reducing its emissions, increasing use of renewable energy and shifting to non-fossil-fuel / bio-derived materials. (Take a look here.)
Key brand for Amer and why Amer is in Tassie is because of its brand Arc’teryx. Its tagline is “Leave it better.”
“Tasmania is becoming a global outdoor playground – if not already.” – Andrew Snowball
Second hype reel of the morning…
Mr Snowball works at Amer Sports – which I *think* is a sports marketing company… (?). https://www.amersports.com/
What I want to know: what is retail adapting to? Downturn? Tariffs? Climate crisis?
Next up: “How is retail adapting?” by Andrew Snowball. Sounds pretty chill.
Hmm. Growth leadership wasn’t quite what I thought it would be. But some gems in Ben’s address, nonetheless.
“What would you do if you weren’t afraid?”
Takeaways
- leaders’ checklist
- grown your leadership muscles
- articulate your vision –
- build an unstoppable team – will over skill
- influence team culture – freedom to fail, freedom to shine
You need to be “comfortable being uncomfortable”. Including being comfortable making other people uncomfortable. (!)
“You can’t teach will, but you can teach skills”.
What does great look like? Big question. #WDGLL…
- Aspirational thinking
- team alignment
- Review of performance
- Autonomy
- Goal setting
And here are some traits of successful leaders.
Ben pops up this definition of leadership. It’s all about belief in the mission, says Ben.
Here we go: “We think leadership is something you need to work on”.
Shark Ninja is the sponsor of Bellerive Oval fyi.
We’re now watching an, er, hype reel about Shark Ninja.
“We improve the lives of consumers through five star products” – that’s the Shark Ninja line. And “improving the lives of consumers”.
Next up: 9.25am Growth leadership by Ben Lovitt, VP of marketing for Shark Ninja – a kitchen appliance company. Ben is a former UTAS student.
Additional learning of the day so far. When a conference says it’s about marketing, well, marketing speak is what you might get…!
And here are some of the early adopters and supporters of the Rounded platform.
Hooee! Learning about… accounting platforms! Learning that Excel excels in its ability to foster human mistakes. Point of this slide is to show that, back in 2016, no one cared about sole traders and there was a gap in the market…
Now we’ve got first speaker up – Oliver Garside. His company, Rounded and Oliver is going to talk about Adaptability, Engagement and Impact. Just looked it up – it’s an accounting platform for sole traders. Apparently market was lacking in this sort of product. https://rounded.com.au/
Bumped into Hobart City Councillor Bill Harvey, who is at the conference in his capacity as board member of Landcare. Bill explains why he’s attending.
These are the first three speaking sessions:
- 9am Building business momentum from a standing start by Oliver Garside
- 9.25am Growth leadership by Ben Lovitt
- 9.50am How is retail adapting? by Andrew Snowball
Not sure what “growth leadership” is. And not sure what retail might be adapting to or not. But we’ll soon find out!
The stage awaits first speaker…
Bumped into one of speakers & sponsor, grabbing a coffee. Video: Oliver Garside explains who he is and why he’s attending. (Checking the program, Oliver’s the first speaker, talking about building business momentum from the ground up.)
And we’re off! Tomorrow starts… today! Lanyards ready at the Tramsheds’ reception, in Launceston.
Although proceedings technically started yesterday, with a reception at the impressive UTAS River’s Edge building, with its vaulted ceiling. UTAS deputy Vice Chancellor, Natalie Brown, welcomed guests to the Tomorrow Conference reception.
