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
