ADMA’s Global Forum is set to open its doors on Thursday, August 24 at Doltone House, Jones Bay Wharf, Sydney.
The program features keynotes, panel discussions, workshops, and networking opportunities, all designed to empower professionals with practical strategies and forward-thinking ideas.
Joining the 2023 lineup is Jess Hatzis, co-founder and CMO of frank body, and founder and director of creative agency Willow & Blake.
Fronting a session called ‘You Can’t Convert Demand That Doesn’t Exist’, Mediaweek caught up with Hatzis ahead of the conference.
When ADMA reached out to her to ask her to join the lineup, Hatzis laughs and admits that “my honest, immediate reaction was to be terrified.”
“I felt very flattered, but terrified, It’s a really great lineup full of some people that I’ve really admired for a long time.”
Joining the conference, Hatzis says that one of the biggest things she’ll be able to bring is her perspective on working in startups and small businesses, as opposed to multinational companies.
“I’m very passionate about sharing my story as a founder and CMO of a startup, having worked with startups for so much of my career, because their experiences are really, really different to those of big businesses. A lot of the time that voice isn’t getting any share of the stage.
“You sit in the audience and hear these stories, and even though they’re incredibly inspiring, they’re not always applicable to what you’re doing as a small business. I like to get out there and wave that flag a little bit and say, hey, we can still do great things even if we’re tiny by comparison to these big brands.”
As part of her ADMA presentation, Hatzis will be putting forward the case for rethinking how businesses measure ROI. After five years in the CMO position at frank, she says that the landscape has changed dramatically – but the expectations of C suites and boards have not shifted appropriately along with them.
“Putting $1 in and getting $10 out from performance marketing channels just doesn’t exist anymore. I find there’s a lot of friction, often between marketing and finance departments, whether it’s in our own business or in those of my clients at Willow & Blake, because they can’t get on the same page. One has different expectations from the other about what marketing can and should achieve.
“Marketing before performance was not a $1 in $10 out machine. There was so much more subjectivity due to it and measuring ROI was quite different. I think we need to take this blend of new and old, particularly when we need to be able to move away from performance channels and focus back on brand-building exercises to protect the future of the company.”
The shifting landscape – and how quickly it’s shifting – is also what Hatzis calls “one of the biggest hurdles the industry is currently facing”.
“I’m 37, I’ve been doing this for nearly 20 years of my life. In the first 10 years, there weren’t the constant seismic shifts in the way that the industry works, that now you’re looking at every six months. It’s difficult to even measure things year on year because there are so many factors that are wildly different between the data sets.
“I find that to be one of the most challenging things, the balance between trying to build a long-term brand strategy, but being nimble and able to pivot because the world is constantly changing around you.”
Looking ahead, Hatzis says that the next 12 months will see her and the team focus their attention on brand. Again, with the perspective of startups and small businesses, she says that that doesn’t always mean multimillion-dollar television campaigns – in fact, brand can be a small but meaningful interaction with your existing or potential customers.
“For us, it’s all about picking a central pillar or a value of the company and looking at how to create an experience or a moment around that, that then is picked up through organic press, media, socials, and customer interaction. It’s the basics of marketing, but it’s the stuff that we overlook – we get so focused on digital components and particular channels, that we forget that customers don’t experience our brand like that.
“We’re really trying to get out, utilise things that are happening more in real life, looking at underutilised, more traditional, and old-school channels that we can really play on and have more meaningful interactions with our customers. We want to get out of that digital vortex that is so easy to fall into as a marketer and a brand.”
See Also: ADMA announces Scott Galloway and Mark Ritson to headline Global Forum 2023
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Top Image: Jess Hatzis