Tim O’Rourke.
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.
Tim O’Rourke: Head of customer success ANZ at Meltwater
Time in current role:
I started back in November 2012, so almost 14 years!
How would you describe what the company does?
Meltwater is a Software as a Service (SaaS) platform that tracks news, social media and AI brand visibility for PR, communications and marketing teams. We bring everything together in a single platform, transforming global coverage, social media and community conversations, and AI data into connected intelligence so teams can understand the full picture and make faster, more confident decisions. For the AUNZ market, Meltwater partners with all major news publishers, such as Nine, News Corp and ACM. It also maintains direct data partnerships with leading social media platforms and content providers giving customers comprehensive access to social media conversations and AI-driven intelligence.
What do you do day to day?
As head of our Customer Success team in AUNZ, I oversee our account management operations across the enterprise, mid-market and SMB business segments. I’m very lucky to work with an ambitious and dynamic group of frontline managers, helping to coach and develop a team of over 40 Customer Success staff.
With such a fast moving product offering and a growing customer footprint, no two days are the same. I also spend a lot of time meeting with customers. Given how much the news industry is changing and as new content types become more important, I regularly engage with senior leaders from our customer base to ensure we are helping them navigate an increasingly complex media ecosystem.
Define your job in one word:
Fast-paced.
I got into my the industry because:
I’m passionate about the news industry. I studied journalism and entered the workforce as a cadet for a metro newspaper, so when I stumbled across Meltwater, I thought it was a perfect fit as it has allowed me to combine that passion with good commercial business experience.
What’s the biggest challenge you face in your role?
Keeping up with constant product innovations and educating staff and customers about the latest developments. Sticking your head in the sand isn’t an option at Meltwater, so as someone who once loved burying his head in a newspaper as the central means of media consumption, I’ve had to learn how to change habits!
What’s the biggest industry wide challenge you’d like to see tackled?
I think it’s time to completely move away from arbitrary PR measurement metrics like AVE. The days of a magic formula delivering a dollar value for brand mentions are pretty much over. It's far more important to understand the narratives being shaped across multiple channels and publishers, and to measure impact through metrics like share of voice, sentiment and social echo.Together, these provide a more comprehensive picture of a brand’s reputation, influence and overall impact.
Who has been a great mentor to you and why?
I’ve been lucky to have had the same boss for more or less my whole career at Meltwater, so he has seen my development over the long term. Our APAC Executive Director, David Hickey, has worked across lots of different offices and teams over his time at Meltwater. When I have been given opportunities to shake things up and take on new roles, he has always been a great sounding board and mentor. This was most evident when I moved to Tokyo for three years as Country Manager for Japan - a role where his guidance was invaluable!
Words of advice for someone wanting a job like yours?
Hire great people and invest in face-to-face development. No matter how much new tech or process efficiencies help you in your job, the most important resource you have are your people. Engage them in person, and make sure they know you're willing to get your hands dirty.
If I wasn’t doing this for a living, I'd be:
Probably working at a newspaper!
My philosophy is:
Fail fast, learn quick.
My favourite advert is:
“Not happy Jan”
Music and TV streaming habits:
Britpop and the classics of the 60s and 70s. My wife and I are also massive foodies so we love the last season of The Bear on Disney.
What do you subscribe to?
Everything. Not proud to say :(
Tell us one thing people at work don’t know about you?
During Covid I became obsessed with John le Carre spy novels.
In five years time I'll be:
Happy, healthy and wealthy! (hopefully)
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