Scot Ennis

The key to success.

The unique ability to re-orientate all other priorities in a matter of moments.

Check out this beautifully put together short film – keep this in mind next time your having a whinge about how bad the surf is.

Drop the Pink Elephant

Fantastic book by Bill Mcfarlan Drop the Pink Elephant. Key takeouts:

So here i was the other day thinking i was having a tough day at work. I caught up with an old friend for lunch i lived with in Japan.

“So, Cam, what you been up to?” I asked.

“My shoulders hurt – i just got back from paddling to Tasmania”

Turns out – in the 3 years it’s taken me to build Switched on Media to staff of 15 – he left Japan, through Russia, Kayaked Norway, Paddled to Tasmaina and is soon off to do the Kokoda trail. So next time you think you are having a hard day at work. Imagine how hard it must be to paddle across bass straight to Tasmania!!!!

In another exclusive, Switched on Media had the chance to catch up with Rob Hardy, one of Australia’s leading Business and Marketing Consultants. Throughout his 20 year career, Rob has run a number of successful businesses, including Time Life Australia and Time Life Europe and has served on the board of the Australian Direct Marketing Association (ADMA). He was named Australia’s Direct Marketer of the Year in 2004.
A graduate of Economics from Nottingham University in England, Rob has enjoyed a highly successful career, starting up and running businesses in Europe, Asia and of course Australia. Rob has been there every step as the marketing space has continually transformed itself and is still being constantly redefined. Here are some of his reflections and his thoughts on the things to come:

1. What’s the biggest challenge you’ve ever faced in business?
When I first arrived in Australia, it was to run Time Life, which had been in existence 40 years, but had lost money 5 years straight. I had to turn around a failing business and get the whole team behind a fundamental shift in the way things were done. Three years later, and revenue is up by a factor of 4, I am pretty sure we got it right!!!

2. How do you see digital marketing changing in 2010 / 2011?
It is just going to grow. The challenge facing digital is to finding its “rightful” place within the overall marketing mix. Businesses are going to face the challenge of not being able to accurately read the full impact of offline activities on the online space. On the surface, online can appear to be massively more cost effective BUT it is only when done in coordination with other offline channels. A lot of companies are going to become unstuck by shifting too much of their promotion media online, and they will rapidly see the apparent effectiveness of that media falling. Getting the right balance is the key.

3. What’s a funny moment that you had in your experience doing business in foreign countries?
When taking a piece of music promotion creative from the UK into Hungary, I got the local office to do a direct translation into Hungarian. Needless to say, I was unable to understand most of the translation, but I could still read the names of the artists and the tracks. My two favourite typos were….

• Bananarama became Banananarama
• And a classic track by the Fine Young Cannibals must have been changed for the follow up because “Johnny Come Home” became “Johnny CAME home”.

That went to print, but got the highest response for an insert that I have EVER seen!

Learn more about Rob Hardy and Rob Hardy Consulting Services by visiting robhardy.com.au

Every now and then at Switched on Media, we are privileged enough to learn from experts in the higher echelons of marketing. Last week, we had the opportunity to ask Darren Ryan, General Manager of Marketing for Canon in Australia, seven burning questions.

What is the biggest challenge you’ve ever had in marketing and sales?

Over the last 4 years, we have shifted Canon from a relatively sleepy place to a more dynamic organisation. During this time, we took what was a poorly performing business, the PIXMA inkjet brand, from a mere 20% market share to market leadership. Our share results are now pushing 40%. Our success has been about finding out what consumers want and don’t want, energising our Marketing and Sales teams as well as redefining how our customers view the space.

Throughout this journey, I have had moments where I thought we were making tremendous progress and other times where I felt like we hadn’t moved very far at all. Ultimately, I learned that we only have to be better than we were yesterday and if we have a clear plan to move forward, we can continue to move ahead of the competition.

Read the rest of this story here

Surfing the web

The term surfing the web has never meant so much with Quicksilver launching an iPhone app that enables live webcast and heats on demand.

It’s pretty cool to watch the worlds best surfers, surfing, live, on the world tour, whilst sitting on the bus on the way to work…The Quiksilver Live Application features live results, photographs, videos and everything else a ‘surf addict’ needs, and is, quite frankly, the best app I’ve ever downloaded. Now, back to work…



Someone at Coke is uncomfortable with the status quo. After all, who says vending machines should be stationary? Have a think about your day, your to do list, try picking the most uncomfortable thing and doing that first. You’ll be surprised at the results you might get.

Amazing ebook from Seth Godin, – read it.