Andy Lark: good for the marketing of marketing
I can still remember the first story I wrote about Andy Lark, when it emerged that he was to be the new chief marketing officer of CommBank.
It was immediately clear that Australia was about to meet an interesting marketer, one who blogged and tweeted and thanks to his time at Dell in the US was digitally savvy. Even two years ago, that was a big deal. The fact that he also had a stint in public relations gave him an absolutely intriguing background before he even arrived.
After the iconoclastic Mark Buckman who had moved to Telstra, CBA, it seemed, was about to be run by another charismatic marketer, albeit a very different one.
And it was true. The last two years have seen Lark roar through. The ending of the controversial tenure of the San Francisco based lead creative agency Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, the ditching of BMF, the move to the new position of “Can”, created by M&C Saatchi and fronted by Toni Collette . Media agency Ikon takes great credit for staying on board the bucking bronco.
I should declare an interest though. Sometimes when you ask trade journalists whether someone is “good” at their job, the answer is based on the filter of whether they are good for copy.
In which case, the answer is an emphatic yes.
I suspect that there has never been a marketer in Australia who has had more written about them by the trade press in the space of two years.
Unlike some of his contemporaries, Lark unashamedly sees part of his role as having a profile and coming out and explaining. As he puts it, he is the cheerleader for a much bigger team.
Clearly, I’ve a bias here, because I suspect he’s been on stage at more of our events than anyone apart from Darren Woolley. The reason we kept inviting him back (and he’s on a couple of sessions at Mumbrella360 next month that we haven’t announced yet) is because he speaks entertainingly and persuasively about marketing and personnel issues. You only have to watch the hashtag on Twitter as he speaks – people always end up talking about wanting to work for him.
It’s a real contrast. I’ll be honest, if you were to ask me the name of the marketing director of ANZ bank, I’d have to look it up.
Lark also has his detractors. One marketer described him to me as a “loudmouth”. And slip ups. It was under his watch – if not his fault – that the company had its Olympics backpack bomb misstep. It also says a lot about his not taking criticism personally that he carried on talking to us after that one – I went quite hard, it’s far to say.
For the marketing industry in Australia, I think Lark has been a good thing. He’s raised visibility for a group of people who at times can be too internal looking.
He’s also been willing to do things differently. The launch of The Messenger Collective (now the Renegade Collective) magazine in part came about because Lark was willing to treat some of his marketing budget as a media innovation fund. It’s not many CMOs who get thanked in a magazine editor’s launch speech.
I’m sure Lark will end up in another interesting role when the notice period is over. And hopefully it will still be in Australia.
He’s been good for the promotion of marketing as a discipline, and an interesting one at that.
He’s too entertaining to give back to the Americans.
Tim Burrowes
Linkedin
Lark is indeed a skilled marketer and self-marketer, but it is as an engaging leader and integrated marketer, that there is the greatest contrast with his predecessor.
The article hints at this, but Lark spent much of his early time undoing the external and internal “work” of the “Iconoclastic” (it doesn’t mean iconic) Buckman. This has been broadly for the better, creating a new atmosphere of enablement and a more cohesive marketing approach from CBA. Whilst I think CAN is trite, it at least gives a path back to the fertile “Which Bank” area that should never have been left.
Secondly, Lark gets personal brand and turning that into a positive leadership personality. He’s about being the leader of his staff, not just a senior exec manager.
Vale, Lark.
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Hi AdGrunt,
I did choose the word iconoclastic deliberately, but not negatively. In particularly, I was thinking of Mark’s willingness to overturn convention when he went offshore to Goodby Silverstein. While I never particularly liked the work, it was a gutsy, and defining, strategy.
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
The share price last 2 years has gone up 40%, far more than Westpac, NAB and ANZ. I found the guy too ruthless as a self promoter and found it offputting, but you can’t deny he was a senior part of an exec team that appear to be delivering better than their competitors.
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I get completely why you used the word iconoclastic. And it does take guts to overturn convention and remove dogma.
However, it takes even greater ability to replace that with something that is wiser, sharper, better. I didn’t see that in the GS&P work, which was “meta” and quirky at best.
So yes, it was a strategy that was defining and gutsy. Or if measured by the outcome for the brand value and engagement, it was misinformed and self-serving.
Telstra is not markedly changed either. To be outshone in that respect by his predecessor at Telstra should be a chronic embarrassment. But he does have a lot of people reporting to him and lots of zeros in his budgets, which is nice.
Anyway, we seem to have diverged from Mr Lark. Do we know where he’s going? Telstra?
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My understanding is that Mr Lark has a long notice period so we may not see him emerge elsewhere for six months or so, AdGrunt.
We need more broadshouldered, risk-taking, loud-mouths in the Australian marketing scene. Let’s hope he stays around.
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Very clever marketer….a nice chap too….is he the new recruit to News. Just saying
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6 months notice being actually worked out suggests a plum job outside the banking sector on Lark’s radar. He is a marketer, not a banker, after all.
Aren’t journos supposed to get the scoop on these things? 😉
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Great article Tim and team!!
Andy has been such an extraordinary support to me, my team and the Collective since launch and has become a great friend. To me he exemplifies everything that corporate marketing should be all about. He is a true renegade – a rule breaker, thought leader and risk taker and I’ve loved every minute of working with him at Commbank. As an entrepreneur its just extraordinary when the big guys can see and buy into your vision and I will be forever indebted to him and Commbank for supporting us and seeing that vision from the get go.
I have no doubt Andy will go on to do extraordinary things. Corporates the world over need more people like him!!!
Grateful!! L
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for the real story on this departure why dont you check out the AFR today – Rowan Dean’s column and Rear Window
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odds on my last comment will get deleted just like the previous two because they fail to sufficiently fawn over the big self-promoter
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Hi Nell,
From time to time I have emailed you privately on the email address you provide to explain why specific comments from you on other topics have not been published. I’m not sure whether you’ve seen those messages though as I don;t think you responded.
All the best,
Tim – Mumbrella
I met Andy at a Salesforce CMO dinner a couple of years ago and out of a room of about 20 CMO’s/senior marketers of some of Australia’s largest brands, Andy was the only one who stood out to me. He ‘got’ digital and he got where marketing and agencies need to be in this new era.
I’m not sure where some people get their information from about Andy or what he’s achieved at CBA as all the negative stuff is just plain wrong.
He’s had a huge positive impact right across CBA (and outside of CBA), most importantly it’s marketing community. He’s also achieved a huge amount of success across all the CBA brand work – contrary to what arm chair pundits say.
Andy is right to challenge agencies and challenge the way marketing works in Australia but sadly some people are affronted that somebody forces them to do better.
He actively seeks out marketing talent, mentors and guides them and overwhelmingly invigorates them.
Like Lisa, I just wish more CMO’s in Australia were like Andy!
Keep going hard Andy…….
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