Our Industry Profile takes a look at some of the professionals working across the advertising, ad tech, marketing and media sector in Australia. It aims to shed light on the varying roles and companies across the buzzing industry.
This week we speak to Naked Communications managing director Tim Kirby.
Duration in current role/time at the company:
Three years in the role, eight years at Naked.
How would you describe what the company does?
We help clients figure out how to best use creativity in communications to solve business problems.
What do you do day-to-day?
A pretty varied mix of activity focusing on our team, clients, new business and operations.
Define your job in one word:
Relentless.
I got into advertising because:
While studying engineering at uni I was hungry to experiment with something else, so I applied for Red Bull’s Student Brand Manager programme. I was inspired by the creativity of that business and ended up staying in marketing as a result. A few years later I wanted to get closer to the creative side of communications so I jumped agency-side, and it felt like home immediately. I love the challenge of combining my natural analytical thinking with the possibility of creativity.
What’s the biggest challenge you face in your role?
Making sure I’m focusing my energy only on the things where I can add the best value.
What’s the biggest industry-wide challenge you’d like to see tackled?
Pricing. For an industry that can provide such enormous commercial return to organisations, we have done a pretty shoddy job of pricing our services based on that return. We are changing how we price at Naked, but we need the whole industry to get off the head hour treadmill as it’s not helpful for agencies or clients.
Previous industry related companies you have worked at:
Client side at Red Bull and Foxtel then agency-side at The Marketing Store and Naked, with a few freelance stints thrown in to give me a different perspective.
Who is/has been a great mentor to you and why?
Sherilyn Shackell, the founder of The Marketing Academy. I was lucky enough to land a place in the first cohort of The Marketing Academy’s Scholarship Programme back in 2015 and it was a huge positive moment in my career. Sherilyn represents everything that it stands for and is a real champion for the value of our industry. But personally I also admire her authenticity, her sense of humour and the honest way she cuts through much of the bullshit that surrounds our industry these days.
Words of advice for someone wanting a job like yours?
Don’t focus on wanting a job like mine. Just focus on learning and improving and the job will take care of itself.
If I wasn't doing this for a living, I'd be:
A pro golfer (in my dreams!).
My mantra/philosophy is:
The harder you work, the luckier you get (thanks Gary Player).
My favourite advert is:
The best work for me isn’t any single ad, but the most enduring brand platforms. One that sticks in my mind from my youth is ‘Probably’ by Carlsberg. An idea that they used for decades to make great work, even if they didn’t make great beer.
What do you subscribe to?
Netflix is my only video subscription, but I’m not much of a couch potato so my list of ‘must watch’ recommendations from friends is starting to get a bit out of hand. Getting on top of that will have to be a project for the Christmas break. At home I tend to turn music on before the TV, so Spotify gets a good workout.
Tell us one thing people at work don’t know about you.
I worked as a part time painter when I was at school.
In five years' time, I'll be:
A better person than I am today, with even more grey hair.
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