Natalie Hatch, programmatic strategist at IPG Mediabrands’ Cadreon, was one of the lucky 50 rising talents across Australia and New Zealand invited to take part in Verizon Media’s inaugural Brand Love Academy. Here are her takeaways from the day...
On Wednesday the 27th of March, 50 budding media professionals walked into Verizon Media’s Brand Love Academy in Sydney with their eyes on the prize: a trip to New York for Advertising Week in September for the winning pitch team.
For the pitch, each team was given an hour to create a fundraising idea and execution strategy for Musicians Making A Difference (MMAD), an Australian charity that provides creative support and mentoring to young people suffering from abuse and neglect. In teams of 5 we rapidly raised and culled ideas, pulled together slides and rehearsed lines in the desperate hope to impress the judges.
D Minor/MMAD at Brand Love Academy
Fast forward 10 hours, there was a winning team and a few disappointed faces.
However, looking back we should have all walked out feeling as though we had accomplished something for the day. Not only because we helped MMAD continue their incredible work giving kids a brighter future, but more selfishly because we were given an opportunity to listen to an awe-inspiring collection of speakers.
Zoe Cocker, Head of Brand & RYOT at Verizon Media, spoke about creativity. Instant panic for most of us, “God I hope she doesn’t ask me to do something on the spot, I am not creative”, we whispered to the person next to us.
But as Zoe told us, we are all creative and “creativity is created when culture and code meet”. If we put our adult mind aside and unleash our inner toddler, we would spend more time being creative and less time planning to be creative, or panicking that we aren’t creative.
The marshmallow challenge during Zoe Cocker’s ‘Unleash your creative mindset’ session
Shelley Laslett, brain-based coach and co-founder/CEO of Vitae Coach, delved into brain training and the good and bad of stress. This was a highly relevant and informative chat for a room full of “I’m so stressed” media professionals.
She made us acutely aware that stress is a powerful emotion. Used positively it can motivate us to “get shit done”, allowed to fester unchecked and it can create long-term damage. However, don’t stress (pardon the pun), self-awareness, mindfulness and some quick neuro-hacks can help you back on track.
Shelley Laslett - ‘A high performing mind for a high performing life'
Dominic Price, Workplace Futurist at Atlassian, spoke about the difference between transformation and evolving. That transformation is a reaction to identifying you are already behind, whereas evolving is being agile and thinking about tomorrow before it has happened.
To be able to evolve you need to think big and start small, collaborate laterally and cross-functionally, build a team with a growth mindset and allow for people to think differently, because ultimately, this friction of opinion is the greatest creator of new ideas.
Dan Richardson & Dominic Price - ‘The future of data’
For me personally the highlight of the day was listening to Dan Gregory, founder/CEO of The Impossible Institute. Dan really challenged us to think about ourselves as a brand. I walked away with two main points, the first was the importance of self-awareness and the second was to leave your ego at the door, difficult to do in the media industry where egos often fight for space.
Dan Gregory - ‘Brand You’
The point of self-awareness and how critically important it is to help you build your personal brand was profound. It’s so easy to get bogged out in the day to day, moving a thousand miles an hour to perform your role and make your clients happy.
But are you aware of what you stand for? What you can contribute to the industry? And where your opportunity for growth is? We spent some time considering each of these questions, and I would implore you, whoever you are, to take some time to consider what your answer to these questions are.
Your brand is what people say about you once you leave the room.
You cannot control everything people say and think about you, but you can control what you do, say and think. You can work on your weaknesses, create opportunity, create small wins, build trust, face criticism, stay true and go above and beyond.
All of this will become noticeable to those around you and that is the beginning of your personal brand, a brand that you will become known for and hopefully, famous for.
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