One day transforming finance marketing strategy

Elly is Co-founder and Head of Creative at Yell Creative. Elly brings a wealth of experience to Yell, having worked across every conceivable media, both agency and client side, allowing her to bring a unique perspective to every project. Her passion for enhancing customer experience through creativity, is realised as she leads her team in creating exceptional and effective customer interactions. She loves her cats, Everton FC (sometimes), Drum and Bass and is partial to a bit of Great British Bake-Off, when she has the time.

Nigel is Co-founder and Strategy Lead at specialist financial services customer experience agency Yell Creative. Nigel has over 20 years’ experience of financial services marketing and strategy in the UK and Australia. Nigel’s passion for transforming the experiences of financial services customers is contagious and has spread throughout our team. His passion for West Ham Utd, Dad Rock and comic books (sorry, graphic novels) has yet to have the same impact.

Vesna Nixon is Kiwibank’s Head of Marketing Campaigns, based in the banks’ Wellington head office. She’s responsible for running all the advertising for Kiwibank’s many products and services both above, and below, the line. With over 20  years’ marketing experience in the financial services industry there really isn’t an area of marketing she hasn’t covered off. Kiwibank currently has a marketing team of over 20 people, running all aspects of the marketing spectrum. Kiwibank is now 16 years old (and Vesna has been there for 13 of these years), and in that time it has grown to over 1 million customers.

Nick Ascough is OMD Wellington Strategy Director and led the team that brought the Mind Over Money project to fruition. 
 
A project that subsequently won Gold awards at the NZ Marketing Awards 2017 and The Beacons 2018 .
 
“The judges love this innovative approach to an age-old category problem. Very courageous – imagine an ad that rated number 1 against The Bachelor. Strong links the core business strategy and standout results for the brand.”

Jo Kelly is a disruptive, customer-focused leader with more than two decades experience driving brand strategy in the financial services sector across Australia and New Zealand. In 2017, CMO50 ranked Jo in the top 20 CMOs in Australia. Jo currently leads a team of brand, marketing and communications professionals at UBank where she focuses on creating a digital ecosystem and encouraging marketers to think and execute differently in a disruptive environment.

Jo has played a key role in cementing UBank as Australia’s leading digital bank, joining the team in early 2015. Jo spearheaded the bank’s rebrand in January 2016, bringing ‘Simple, Better, Smarter’ banking to Australian customers. More recently, Jo led award-winning, provocative marketing campaigns Real Estate Tips from the Terminally Ill and The Science of Spending and Saving.  Jo dedicates her time to help guide and educate the next generation of marketers by sharing not just best practice; but ‘next practice’.

Camilla has over 25 years experience in marketing, specialising in digital & data driven areas. She has worked in London & Sydney as a digital strategist for start-ups, not for profits and blue chip clients including Microsoft, Unilever, CBA, Vodafone and Qantas Frequent Flyer. She ran the digital campaign for the ALP in 2007 (KEVIN07) and from 2013-15 was Marketing Director at Cure Brain Cancer. She continues pro bono work in the not-for-profit area where she is a passionate advocate for change.

Nickie Scriven is the CEO of Zenith Media in Australia, responsible for the agency’s people, profile, growth and client relationships nationally, as part of the Zenith Worldwide network.

An Executive media and marketing professional with extensive experience in marketing, advertising, traditional, digital and social media. Track record of success in building and implementing strategic business, marketing and communications plans to deliver on business objectives, brand positioning, acquisition and retention targets. Effective leader who motivates and inspires teams to deliver superior results.

Specialties: Marketing strategy and planning; brand strategy and management; brand identity and architecture; integrated marketing communications; digital media; social media; research and insights; sponsorship and brand activation; agency management; stakeholder engagement; and public speaking.

Adam has build a career making the complex simple and the simple compelling. He honed his craft with a range of local and international clients including Telstra, Microsoft, Verizon, Commonwealth Bank, General Motors, JP Morgan Chase, Allianz, SAP, News Corp & Optus.

During his time in the US he served as Executive Vice President, Strategy – a period where he developed a fascination for Customer Experience, the nuanced nature of international marketing and universality of brilliant creative.

A passionate supporter of continuous education and talent development, Adam is the current President of the International Advertising Association & member of the global IAA board. A father of three, he wouldn’t be without health cover and is a regular in ER.

Adam is President of the International Advertising Association, Australia

Fred Schebesta is the Co-founder of finder.com.au and HiveEx.com, an award-winning business leader, and active member of the global startup community.

His entrepreneurial journey began at just 22. Together with his business partner and school friend Frank Restuccia, they created digital marketing agency Freestyle Media while studying at university. In 2006, the duo sold the business before launching comparison website finder.com.au, which exploded into the comparison market – one of the most competitive internet categories.

Finder is destined to be the “Amazon of comparison”, which compares virtually everything from cryptocurrency exchanges, credit cards, home loans and insurance to savings, travel, technology and shopping coupon codes.

Finder.com launched in the United States in September 2015 and in the United Kingdom in February 2017. Today, the company employs more than 200 staff globally, amassing more than 9 million unique visitors in January alone, and operates in 10 countries with a further 10 to launch in 2018.

After launching cryptocurrency exchange comparison Crypto Finder last year, Fred realised a gap where big traders were being under-serviced so he launched HiveEx.com, an over-the-counter brokerage service for big trades.

Fred is a global speaker, widely sourced in the media, the author of the ebook, ‘How to Create an Online Marketing Campaign that Sells’, a past recipient of the ADMA Australian Young Direct Marketer of the Year award, and recently awarded Australian National Finalist for Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2017 and the 2017 Australian Regional Finalist – Eastern Region.

Luke has over 25 years of financial services industry experience in senior leadership positions with some of the most well-known brands, locally and globally. He has also gained a wealth of knowledge and experience in the tech-world prior to collaborating with co-founder, Steve Weston, to bring volt bank to life.

Bill Lan is Industry Head for the Financial Services practice at Google Australia.

He brings 20+ years experience working with advertisers in travel, retail, automotive, banking, technology and insurance. He has led Financial Service teams at Google, with the last three years in Sydney and the four years prior in San Francisco. In his current role, he and the team consult companies on ways to engage with customers and prospects, measure effectiveness and utilise the best of Google technology and digital channels to solve business problems.

Prior to Google, Bill spent 6 years with the advertising platform Efficient Frontier (acquired by Adobe) where he was the Vice President of Account Development in the United States and General Manager of Asia Pacific. Supporting large advertisers and agencies in China, Japan, Korea and Australia, his work centered on developing consumer engagement strategies that involved Search, Display, Video, Social and Analytics as well as developing business partnerships. A snapshot of previous engagements include Wells Fargo, Expedia, United Health Group, Hotels.com, and Microsoft.

Bill holds an Economics degree from the University of Chicago. In his spare time, Bill and his partner Ellen, can be found at their 2 year old daughter’s favourite place, the zoo.

Ophenia Liang is the Co-founder & Director of Digital Crew. Liang is a specialist digital marketer into China with both academic and practical experience across the APAC region. She has assisted key global brands to enter and grow in the Chinese market through her strategic planning, execution and evaluation.  She is also a highly sought-after speaker, as a result of her knowledge and digital marketing expertise selling into Asian markets, particularly China. Liang’s area of expertise covers Chinese marketing, team management, account management, strategic planning, international media planning, PPC (GAP Qualified), Baidu SEM (Senior consultant), SEO, social media and web analytics. She holds a public relations degree from Sun Yat-Sen University, a Masters in Marketing from Melbourne University and is an accredited translator with the National Authority of Translators and Interpreters. Liang is also a guest Chinese Curator for the Global Society of Digital Agencies (SoDA).

Awards: Ophenia is Winner of City of Sydney Business Award, Young Entrepreneur 2017; Winner of ACAA ICT & New Media Award; and finalist of B & T Women in Media.

Gerard has been working in the Banking and Financial Services Industry for over 20 years. His professional background includes experience in Sales and Marketing, e-commerce, digital services, project management, contact centres, technology implementation, and knowledge management.

His current role is Chief of Sales and Marketing Officer at Teachers Mutual Bank Limited (Acting). Gerard is passionate about leading Teachers Mutual Bank Limited in an ever-increasing and complex ecosystem whilst ensuring all brands continue to offer exceptional service to our customers.

Liz Lefort is the Head of Consumer Marketing at PayPal Australia. In this role she is responsible for driving customer engagement and building the PayPal brand in Australia. She leads the consumer marketing team to deliver best in class digital and social campaigns that drive business outcomes. 

During her time at PayPal Liz has played a key role in reengineering consumer engagement across owned, digital and social channels, as well as launching the highly successful Shop off the Beaten Path, Live Selects and peer-to-peer payments brand campaigns, in addition to social innovation chatbot Bae.

With over 15 years’ experience within the Fintech marketing space she is passionate about how the commerce experience will be rewired over the next two years and the role marketing plays in guiding consumers through this transformation.

Prior to working at PayPal Liz held a number of senior positions at Westpac Group where she led teams in both product and marketing, delivering strategies and programmes across multiple brands – including Westpac and St. George.  She was responsible for ground-breaking achievements in the bank, including launching the first debit card in the Australian market, rebranding Westpac Premium and lighting up the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House in red as part of the Migrant & Multicultural programme.

Gemma Hunter is an award-winning, internationally recognised content specialist. With more than 20 years’ in media and advertising, she has spent the last seven with MediaCom. Her remit spans oversight of content strategy, creative, production, distribution, PR, brand and marketing. Gemma’s expertise has seen her hold and excel in the highest level creative and executive roles, across major agencies, in major markets including global, pan-Europe, Japan, Korea, Australia and the Asia Pacific.

Gemma is associated with a who’s who of the world’s biggest and best known brands, evidence of her extraordinary category expertise. She has applied her skills and insights to clients spanning tech and auto through FMCG, alcohol, entertainment, fashion and travel. She also has deep experience in the government and not-for-profit sectors.

Gemma’s imprimatur can be found on everything from brand-funded prime-time TV series, to international events, agency PR to bespoke content across every channel. Her talents include identifying, leading and developing award-winning, high performance teams.

In a career with many standout achievements, just a few of Gemma’s include:
• winning the first ever CANNES LION for Brand Entertainment for the GT Academy (Playstation & Nissan, 2008)
• creating Air Rescue, the first ever brand-funder TV series in peak on a free-to-air channel (Westpac, 2013 – to date). Winner of One Show, MFAs, FOMA, FOMG, Spikes
• creating There is something I have to tell you, a short form content series dealing with stigma and testing around HIV (Year? Qld Govt.) This was subsequently adopted by the Global HIV comms council.
• winning BEfest’s Content Marketing Agency of the Year in 2014.

Gemma is a Marketing Academy Australia scholar & future leader, a member of the Australian Marketing Institute, a panellist for B&T Creative and a member of the AdNews “40under40”.

A media professional with over 10 years experience in both print and digital journalism, public relations and corporate communications. Passions include technology, travel, business, aviation, cars and motorsports, media, tennis, and family. An enthusiastic and sociable people person with a track record of building and maintaining relationships and strengthening brands.

Jon started life in London in fintech, before it was called that in the late 90’s, since then has worked with large and small companies to transform them for the digital world before moving into digital and product agencies. Most recently he ran R/GA in Australia, working with clients like Google, Nike and Macquarie Bank. 18 months ago he went back to startup life founding Zuper to take on the behemoth superannuation industry. Zuper is looking to revolutionise superannuation, retirement and wealth in Australia and globally, giving the power back to generations of people who have been left behind. Bringing together, technology, product and marketing in new and disruptive ways including an underlying ecosystem built on Artificial Intelligence and blockchain design.

Madeleine is a founding member and Head of Marketing & Content at GROW Super.

Launched in mid-2017. GROW exists to empower individuals, giving them knowledge and tools to reach a comfortable retirement while providing all Australians access to high-quality investment options like they deserve.

Prior to joining GROW, Madeleine freelanced across the digital, social and event space working with some of Australia’s most prominent companies and organisations. She has previously worked with NewsCorp, Sephora, Andy Allen, Wildwon, Australian Futures Project, Incu, Sculpture by the Sea and the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence.

Alasdair has helped some of Australia’s top FinTech startups achieve hyper growth and is passionate about helping the Internet Generation build wealth.

After graduating with 1st Class Honours in Finance/Economics and working in the managed investment industry, Alasdair joined the Acorns Australia team in 2015, where he grew the company from 0 – 150,000 users in just 18 months. In early 2017, he took on the role as Head of Growth at Spaceship, a tech-focused Superannuation fund built for the next generation of young Australians. Spaceship grew a waitlist of 55k+ and acquired over $100m in funds under management, before even launching to the public. Spaceship is now Australia’s fastest growing financial services startup, picking up several awards in 2017 and attracting ~$50m investment from the world’s most notable investors, including NEA, Sequoia, Horizons Ventures, Valar Ventures and Grok Ventures.

Zoe is a journalist currently working at Mumbrella as a reporter. She assists the editors in reporting on news related to the media, publishing and marketing sectors, more specifically media owners.

Zoe has previously covered the advertising agency beat.

She has worked overseas, writing for an international newspaper in Seoul, and did a major in Italian studies at university.

Kate Wellard is a Senior Marketing Executive with a career that spans over 19 years working for companies such IAG, ANZ, EY and RBS.  Kate’s passion is delivering innovative and creative marketing and communications campaigns that build winning brands, designing leading edge disruptive ideas and for asking the tough questions.

Gemma has spent the last 17 years advising clients both in Australia and overseas and holds experience working across finance, health, consumer, technology and corporate sectors. Commercially minded, Gemma works with clients to understand the landscape they are operating in and strives to develop creative solutions aligned to broader business objectives and deliver strong results. During her career, she has led many successful campaigns spanning new product launches, issues management, thought-leadership campaigns, corporate profiling and B2C media relations and engagement. Gemma also holds extensive experience in running integrated PR, promotions, sponsorships and events programs. Gemma has worked with some of the world’s leading brands and her clients including Allianz, NAB, eHarmony, Cotton On Group, GSK, HCF. Contact number: 0406 097 071 Email: ghudson@we-buchan.com

Michelle has worked as a financial services communication consultant for the last 12 years. During this time, she has worked with leading Australian and international blue-chip organisations, advising clients specifically on issues management and reputation-building campaigns. Michelle worked at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in London during the global financial crisis, as part of the Research Communication team, before returning home and back to her agency roots.

She now heads up the Corporate team at WE Buchan, where she has worked with clients such as the ATO, Allianz, AFIC, Hewison Private Wealth and NGS Super.

With a focus on communication outcomes that support business objectives, Michelle is driven by understanding the core issues facing and influencing a business in motion which can be addressed with communication.

Michelle is a specialist in corporate communication, with a particular focus on financial and professional services industries.

Matt is an innovative professional with a creative flair, with nearly two decades of diverse business experience. He has worked in the advertising industry both here and the UK, in television and print media, and for the last 10 years in senior management roles in financial services. When he is not at work he’s playing soccer with his 3 daughters, finalizing the plans to their dream home with his wife, and if time allows in the surf somewhere in Newcastle.

Peter is a global leader in transforming SMEs, large businesses + organisations through the eyes of their customers. As a customer strategy catalyst, he brings over 20 years of experience in consulting projects for both commercial + government organisations in the UK, Australia + throughout Europe.  With unrivalled global business credentials + an enviable cross-industry portfolio – American Express, Terry White ChemMart, PPQ, EFTPOS, RICOH, DEFRA, HMRC & News Limited – he is known to be one of the founding technicians of customer-led strategic innovation, with a style that is engaging + thought-provoking.

Nick has worked within the Financial Services team at Facebook Australia for the past 4 years and is responsible for advising clients on how to maximize use of Facebook and drive their business objectives.
 
Prior to joining Facebook, Nick spent 12 years working as a strategist across a variety of agency disciplines, from creative, media and specialist digital agencies in both London and Sydney.

Toby Dewar has over 20 years of experience working within leading Australian Marketing teams and for major local Media agencies.
 
Currently Toby is the Head of Media, Digital and Social for Westpac Group – across Westpac, St George, Bank of Melbourne, Bank SA, RAMS and BT – in connecting data inspired, innovative and immersive plans with customers to drive business growth and brand love.
 
Over the past 2 years Toby has taken the lead in developing a new dedicated agency for Westpac in MediaLab, shaping a more transparent and data led model that shapes Westpac’s Media investment. Additionally, Toby has played a lead role in developing and implementing a bespoke Westpac training program with Professor Mark Ritson, focused on driving transformation and growth across the marketing team.
 
Previous to his role at Westpac, Toby was the General Manager of CMO Transformation at Telstra responsible for the implementation of a world-class marketing training program in partnership with the UNSW AGSM and IBM. This project involved the up skilling of 330 marketers, and influenced both how the CMO was structured, and defined their future ways of working. 
 
Previous to this role he was the GM of Brand Marketing and Strategy, whilst he started his career at Telstra as the GM of Strategic Marketing Partnerships. The latter role involved managing one of the most dynamic media budgets in the market, being accountable for one of the leading Sponsorship & Awards portfolios in the industry, and also leading the management of our agency partnerships.
 
His client slide career commenced working as the Head of Media and Sponsorships at McDonald’s and previous to this he worked in a number of major Sydney agencies across the key accounts of Microsoft, Bacardi, MasterCard, Vodafone and Coca-Cola.

Caroline Ruddick is the General Manager, Marketing at Latitude Financial Services. In this role Caroline has responsibility across Sales Finance, Credit Cards, Personal Loans and Insurance for Australia and New Zealand. Before joining Latitude, Caroline held the positions of Head of Marketing at AGL, Head of Marketing at Transurban and General Manager of Marketing at MYOB. Caroline has been responsible for leading brand repositioning and digital transformation across a range of Australian iconic brands such as SEEK, MYOB and AGL.

She held senior brand marketing and strategy roles at SEEK Ltd in Melbourne, Grey Worldwide in New York and George Patterson Bates in Melbourne. She began her brand marketing career in the FMCG sector with Procter& Gamble and Mars Confectionery of Australia. Caroline has 20 years experience in General Management, Marketing, Sales, Digital Transformation, Communications and Product.

Caroline has a Master of Commerce (Marketing & Organisational Behaviour) from the University of New South Wales, and a Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting & Business Law) from the University of Melbourne. She is also a Graduate Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Maria is a strategic marketer, who has spent nearly 20 years driving growth at major companies in the UK and Australia and has now taken that experience to SocietyOne, Australia’s largest marketplace lender where she is Chief Marketing Officer.

Her passion for consumer champion brands was inspired by her time working with Richard Branson where she helped develop new ventures for the Virgin Group. Her interest in alternative business models has now extended to the FinTech revolution.

Prior to joining SocietyOne, Maria worked for several large organisations, most recently at Optus, where she was Head of Marketing Communications, AMP as Director of Channel Marketing and OFX, where, as Chief Marketing Officer, she re-launched the brand globally.

Maria is not your typical marketer. With a Masters’ degree in Engineering and European Studies, her skills are grounded in data, and tech with a creative flair.. She combines these with a passion for marketing and a healthy dose of realism – all designed to develop solutions that drive results while indulging her inner geek for numbers.

Maria is fluent in French, which is helpful given she married a Frenchman with whom she has two children. She loves the outdoors, playing tennis and enjoys a good glass of red wine with friends.

Shannon has over 20 years experience across predominantly financial services and telecommunications,with particular expertise in strategy, innovation, and marketing.

In November 2017, Shannon was appointed Tribe Lead for the Savers & Investors Segment at ANZ Banking Group. Shannon is responsible for all strategy and execution across product, marketing, pricing strategy and experience design, for the Savers and Investors segment and retail deposits more broadly.

Her passion centres on helping design products and behavioural propositions that help people save for goals and create a financial buffer to improve the financial wellbeing of all Australians.
Shannon is also a director on the BPAY board.

Diane Pavlicevic is Head of Marketing at GMHBA Health Insurance and Care Company. Diane is responsible for marketing programs, brand management, member communications and digital marketing. Diane works collaboratively across the business to leverage insights to develop creative marketing programs that increase sales, value and differentiation across the Australian market.
Over the last 20 years Diane has held extensive brand management roles, primarily in FMCG, where she has had a successful track record. With a passion for brand management, Diane believes that while there is still a place for traditional advertising she is engrossed in the shift towards humanised digital experiences and the exciting challenge of remaining authentic in a digital world.
Diane holds a Bachelor of Business from Swinburne University. She lives on Victoria’s surf coast with her husband and their three children. On the weekends you will find Diane by the soccer pitch, hockey field or on the pool deck cheering on her kids.

Wilmari joined The Hallway’s Melbourne team in 2017, leading the CX strategy discipline with a particular focus on supporting ANZ as it moves to a scaled-agile approach to responding to customer needs.

With 15 years of Customer Experience Strategy and CRM experience, Wilmari is driven by customer insight, data and driving results.

She has worked across a diverse range of brands, channels and categories around the world developing strategies and customer journeys across acquisition and loyalty, that maximise immediate and future opportunities.