Earlier this month, Streem, in partnership with Mumbrella, revealed the 10 most prominent marketing leaders in Australia throughout the 2020-21 financial year. Number one on the list was Coles CMO Lisa Ronson, who had 294 distinct mentions, closely followed by Woolworths’ Andrew Hicks.
Delving deeper into the data, and while many of the top 20 marketing leaders come from some of Australia’s biggest brands, some of the marketing leaders in the top 20 feature by way of their persistence in working with key publications covering their specific industry or market. Across sectors including retail, auto, and consumer goods, several marketing leaders made their voices heard by focusing their communications where it had the most impact.
For almost all of the top marketing leaders, a bigger share of their mentions were secured in metro publications than in regional publications. On average, metro publications delivered just over twice the volume of mentions compared to regional publications.
There were some limited exceptions to this. For Australia Post’s CMO Amber Collins, half of her mentions were in regional publications, compared to 17% in metro publications, an unsurprising but nonetheless interesting breakdown for a brand that is central to many regional communities. Scott Baird, CMO of Hungry Jack’s, also saw more mentions in regional publications than metro publications, at 37% compared to 21%.
While metro publications secured a higher share of mentions than regional publications, on average, for Australian marketing leaders, trade publications far and away took the highest share of mentions.
Publications outside of metro and regional print and online publications were responsible for two-thirds, or 67%, of all mentions of Australian marketing leaders. This trend was reflected across individual marketing leaders, with some securing the entirety of their mentions in trade publications.
Across the data, it’s clear that those brands that have focused on frequently interacting with their market through their touchpoints, be it retail, product, advertising, or other media channels, have a higher level of mentions of their marketing leaders.
Marketing leaders of major retail brands, which have consistent interactions with their customers through regular purchasing, brands that heavily advertise in a variety of ways and across multiple channels, such as insurance providers, and those that own media channels, lead the way in mentions.
Through persistence, engagement with key trade publications, a diversity of communication channels, and frequent contact with your customers, it’s possible to build a communications ecosystem that will deliver your key stakeholders a higher degree of prominence.