Our Industry Profile takes a look at some of the professionals working across the advertising, adtech, marketing and media sector in Australia. It aims to shed light on the varying roles and companies across the buzzing industry.
Ciaran Miller-Stubbs: Executive director at Enigma.
Time in current role/time at the company:
Two years, almost to the day.
How would you describe what the company does?
Enigma has a hell of a heritage – founded in Newcastle over 30 years ago and still proudly independent. We’re halfway through a (r)evolution, building on that heritage with a mission to combine all our smarts in creativity, data and media to help brands connect with Australians in unignorable ways.
What do you do day-to-day?
The cliched response would be to say that no two days are the same. And that wouldn’t be untrue – we work in advertising. But what I try to do day-to-day is bring a personal, authentic approach to what can sometimes be an impersonal world (in advertising and beyond). Account Management’s role is often spent in the middle of opposing arguments. I just listen and navigate those differing opinions to find… not the compromise - but the shared ground. And build form there.
Define your job in one word:
Motley.
I got into marketing because:
I fell into advertising, almost literally. I was 22-ish and knew I needed a proper job. A friend was a recruiter (shout out to Matty Creer) and somehow snuck me into an entry-level finance role at BMF. A year later Nick Garrett sent me off to an AdSchool Account Management course and the rest is history. I owe a lot to BMF and all the people there who nurtured me through those early days and gave me the opportunity to create a career.
What’s the biggest challenge you face in your role?
Finding the moment. To have the tricky conversation, the side-chat, the in-your-face chat. To share the feedback that’s going to break a creative’s heart – or make their week. To push, let go, or bet the house on black. So much of what we do is about finding the right moment to do it. And getting it right or wrong has the potential to shape the next 5-minutes, 5-hours, 5-months, or more.
What’s the biggest industry-wide challenge you’d like to see tackled?
I might be wrongly tarring an entire industry with the one brush, but from my experience there’s not enough diversity – in race, religion, postcodes, life experience, education, height (shout out to BS), and everything in between. Really, what we need is diversity of thought, and with people still doing the thinking (at least for now), the more diverse those people are, the more diverse the perspectives, conversations and, ultimately, what this industry collectively puts out into the world.
Notable campaigns you have worked on:
I was lucky enough to land a gig at The Monkeys in the 2010s, and even luckier they took me back for a second stint when I needed to leave London in a hurry. That’s when and where I would’ve worked on the most ‘notable’ campaigns. A few for Lamb, a couple for Canadian Club. What we developed for Blackmores – be a well being – was better than I think it got credit for.
Who has been a great mentor to you and why?
What’s that saying? It takes a village to raise a kid. Maybe that’s not the right saying, but what I’m trying to get at is there’s been a village worth of mentors along the way, directly and indirectly. From Brandon Bisnette to Bec Morton to Dos Nombres. I’d be stoked to be half the mentor to others as those guys plus many, many more were to me.
Words of advice for someone wanting a job like yours?
Don’t let your own pressures impact how you work with your team, your colleagues, your clients, your partners.
If I wasn't doing this for a living, I'd be:
Running a little café. A coffee machine and some pastries in a place that gets the arvo sun – I wouldn’t need much more than that.
My mantra is:
We’ll get there, one way or another.
My favourite advert is:
It’s gotta be the Sony Bravia bouncy balls ad. Everything about it – the audacity of launching 200-odd thousand balls down SF’s iconic hills, the cinematography, the SONG.
Music and TV streaming habits. What do you subscribe to?
I’ve been going deep down the Tiny Desk Concerts playlist on YouTube recently – Chika’s is a definite highlight, as is Ludovico Einaudi’s, for completely different reasons.
Tell us one thing people at work don’t know about you?
When my headphones are on, they aren’t really on. So yes, Cam, I heard that.
In five years' time I'll be:
Working in that café.
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