Earlier this year, News Corp Australia announced the launch of The Growth D_Stillery, a dedicated research and intelligence service offering consumer insights to help marketers navigate brand challenges, anticipate consumer trends and understand where best to invest.
See Also: Behind The Growth D_Stillery: News Corp’s newest research and intelligence offering
The Growth D_Stillery amplifies key research insights on trade marketing platforms, and on News Corp Australia channels. As a part of its release into market, the platform has launched a series of vodcasts hosted by News Corp Australia’s director, Growth Intelligence Centre Dan Krigstein, with guests from all corners of the marketing world.
Dan Krigstein
The most recent lot of Growth D_Stillery vodcasts were recorded at Sydney’s Luna Park as part of the 2023 Advertising Week conference, and Mediaweek was on the ground to catch up with those recording episodes.
This week, Mediaweek spoke to Susan Coghill, Tourism Australia’s chief marketing officer.
Sitting in the ice-cream-parlour-turned-News-Corp-studio at Luna Park, Mediaweek caught Coghill as she came off stage from her Beyond the Famous Faces presentation. Speaking about the value of having a presence at the conference, Coghill says that “I love telling our story, I think we’ve got a lot to share.”
“For us, playing an active role in the marketing industry here in Australia is really important – it helps us get our story out around how we try and market Australia, and it helps us build support and efficacy within the marketing world as well.
“Contributing to the dialogue around what makes great marketing is very important. There’s no doubt also that having a program like this also raises the profile of us as a brand to work with – whether it’s our agency partners, our media partners, or even young, up-and-coming marketers who might want to work with us.”
Turning her attention to the recording of The Growth D_Stillery Vodcast episode, Coghill says that she ended up on board with the series as a part of the Advertising Week coverage.
“With News Corp being a good partner, they are finding opportunities to talk to marketers of all different stripes to help really build out the content around the campaign.
“I came to the conference because I’m a bit of a nerd about marketing. I do love telling a bit of our story, I like sharing the journey that we’re on. So I think the chance to sit down with the guys from the D_Stillery was just an extension of that.”
Susan Coghill at Advertising Week
When asked about how she’s currently feeling about the state of the wider industry in 2023, Coghill is very firm that no matter what challenges lie ahead, the industry is doing just fine.
“I remain entirely optimistic about our industry and about where we’re going. God, if there’s one group of people who can solve a problem, it’s people in the marketing and media industry! We are literally problem solvers at heart, whether it’s for brands, clients, businesses, or whatever.
“Yes, I think we’re at an inflection point, I think there’s a lot of change coming. But marketers are nothing if not adaptable, and will find a way to take that change and turn it into a positive.”
As for what exactly the challenges are that the industry is falling at the moment, Coghill points to one big hurdle in particular – attention.
“The marketing landscape, the media landscape, the technology landscape – it has never been as big and daunting as it currently is. The path to getting consumer attention has never been more challenging, there’s so much competing for their attention. Finding your way through that, wading through a lot of the noise to find the signal that’s most important for your customer, I think that can be quite challenging. “
Ultimately, when asked what she hopes viewers get out of the Vodcast episode, Coghill says that it’s a similar message she delivered in her Advertising Week session – nail the basics and ignore external distractions.
“All lines point to focusing on the essentials and not getting distracted by a lot of the noise out there. I’m a big believer in getting your marketing fundamentals right before absolutely anything else.
“Then, If you really understand your category, if you really understand your consumer, you can start to make well-informed choices about how to best reach and engage them.”
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Top Image: Susan Coghill