Justin Hind on the big decade ahead for Brisbane
Brisbane is set to boom as it leads into the 2032 Olympics, and according to CHEP Network CEO, Justin Hind, creativity will be at the centre of leveraging a market ripe for growth.
Queensland has the highest level of interstate net migration, according to the recent census data, with the state also experiencing the highest population growth in 2021, with 73,000 people relocating to the Sunshine State.
Justin Hind: ‘Brisbane has been a bit of an outlier’
It is also a personal mission for Hind, who said he is “very proudly a Brissy boy”, growing up in the city where he started his agency career, and learned a lot of his craft.
“When we look at it from a business point of view, we see Brisbane and Southeast Queensland as being a very buoyant part of the economy. There’s huge infrastructure spending in Brisbane, and then you put the Olympics on top of it there will be a huge demand for brands to leverage that experience and that investment from now until maybe post the Olympics.”
The Brisbane market can differentiate itself on lifestyle and affordability he added, “there is actually lots of global talent and Aussies that have come back and they’re in Brisbane, but they’re working in to Melbourne and Sydney”.
“I think the appeal for the talent is that I can have this amazing lifestyle, but I can still work on a Samsung or a Telstra or something of national significance.”
In an attempt to further increase its footprint in the market, CHEP is now looking to bring its Brisbane offering up to speed and integrate across its three main east-coast cities.
“Our take on that really is that CHEP is probably one of the very few, if not maybe the only agency that operates on a truly national basis if you consider borderless creativity, and the ability that we can have briefs worked on in Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne at any point in time.”
Hind does say that in the past Melbourne and Sydney have been “operating in lockstep”, with Brisbane a little bit of an outlier, but now it is moving to become “more and more a part of the national team” as it doubles down in the market.
Peacock and Gannon
Both managing partner Christine Gannon and strategy director Katie Peacock are part of the “world class talent” Hind has pointed to, with Peacock recently returning to the market, and more creative appointments coming up “very soon” he added.
“If you look at the trend of a lot of major national businesses that are based in Brisbane, they’re leaning further into Sydney and Melbourne, but they’re overlooking what lives and breathes in Brisbane, and we want to reverse that trend and say there is world class talent here in Brisbane if you want to be serviced locally.”
“And then equally, if we’ve got world-class creative and planning talent in Brisbane, there’s no reason why that can’t reach into Sydney and Melbourne if there’s special expertise or superpower. And that’s how we’re starting to organise ourselves.”
Hind reckons that the net migration into the Southeast Queensland area will continue in the lead up to the Olympics, with the market set to become bigger and bigger.
He spends a lot of time still in Brisbane, and said anecdotally, that consumer spend is noticeably on the rise.
“We all believe that creativity is the multiplier and it’s the differentiator in business, and I think that creativity has a huge role to play in that local market about getting people either activated in the local market for big national brands or local brands that want to leverage the growth that’s going on in that economy.
“I think that creativity has a massive role to play and I’m not quite sure it’s being serviced at the same level as brands that decide to come to Sydney or come to Melbourne.”
“The city is very sophisticated now, and I think that a lot of people in Sydney and Melbourne really haven’t opened their eyes to what is actually there as part of the fabric of that city.”
CHEP recently released a new brand campaign with Brisbane-based Michael Hill, with CMO Jo Feeney also speaking to Mumbrella this year about the brand’s shifting approach, as well as the strong local market.
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Calum Jaspan was news editor at Mumbrella, based in Melbourne. He was also the producer and host of the Mumbrellacast. He left Mumbrella in May 2023.
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