Ray White’s head of marketing Lisa Pennell departs
The head of marketing at real estate group Ray White, Lisa Pennell, has left following a long association with the company.
She has been in the top marketing function for over two years, as well as national PR manager in the early 2000s, and said she’s not yet sure what’s next.
Pennell first joined Ray White in 2001
“My key ambition was to break the brand out of the category – a category that is most well known for chest beating and the annual gamut of homogenous ‘spring has sprung’ campaigns,” Pennell told Mumbrella.
Her recent achievements, she said, include raising $1.25m for bushfire relief efforts with the industry initiative Beyond Bricks and “[working] our butts off throughout the COVID-29 crisis, setting a new benchmark for marketing at Ray White”, she added on LinkedIn.
“I’m most proud of the high-performing team I built and have had the pleasure of working with, they really rose to every challenge. My experience has confirmed it’s more important today for a CMO to be a strategic and strong leader who’s able to bring together disparate specialist skills and enable collaboration, than to be a traditional marketer,” she told Mumbrella.
“I walk away from the group having achieved incredibly strong metrics in all areas and am now looking forward to a break to refresh and reconsider my next challenge.”
Under Pennell’s leadership, Ray White launched its first brand campaign in its 116-year history in 2018 featuring Rhys Muldoon.
The campaign became national and eventually made it onto television screens. The brand had not advertised on TV for 30 years.
And in September, the legacy real estate brand launched its ‘Hide and Seek’ campaign, which aimed to bring some positivity back to a market which had been plagued by uncertainty and downward pressures.
“These campaigns have had a positive uplift in brand perception, while commercially, the group has experienced significant growth in market share over the past two and a half years,” Pennell said.
Ray White said the resignation was unrelated to COVIF-19, but did give the brand the chance to regather its marketing strategy for the next phase of growth.
Managing director Dan White noted Pennell’s various achievements, including giving the brand some consistency.
“We approached Lisa to lead our marketing efforts at a time when we had many issues with our marketing platform and brand consistency. Lisa’s ability to find solutions to these immediate challenges, as well as to continue to enhance the pride in our brand presence will be valued for years to come,” White said.
“Lisa has recruited and developed many outstanding individuals who have continued to develop from her leadership. She has established a remarkable team of which she is justifiably proud.
“We will miss Lisa’s unyielding work ethic, unwavering commitment to our members and calm under pressure.”
