Young Gun profiles takes a look at the young talent across the Australian advertising, adtech, marketing and media sector. Aiming to shed light on the varying roles, people and companies across the buzzing industry.
Eden Caceda: retention and loyalty manager at HCF
Time in current role/time at the company:
I’ve been at HCF for a little over a year now. It’s gone so fast.
How long have you been in the industry?
I’ve been working in marketing for seven years, with a real focus on the loyalty marketing sector over the last five years. Starting at HCF last year was my first step into loyalty marketing in the health insurance industry. I’m lucky to have worked with health insurer partners in my previous roles in professional services sector, so have had a bit of exposure from that in the past, which definitely helped me coming to HCF and in loyalty marketing in the health insurance industry.
How did you get here? Was this always the plan?
Absolutely not! I never thought I would be a loyalty marketer. I went into university wanting to be a writer/journalist and studied an Arts degree in English, but with the growth of digital publications, it felt like an industry had changed in a way that I didn’t see myself fitting in. But I used my writing background to move into content and eventually marketing in the long term. Once in marketing I moved into a role in the loyalty field at the Law Society of NSW, learnt so much, and just like that ended up here at HCF a few years later.
Who is your right-hand person/who guides you day to day?
I’m lucky to have two amazing people at work that I work with closely. First is my manager Eric Peterson, who leads my team, member experience and research. He is an absolute encyclopedia of knowledge, guides me and challenges me, but most of all supports me and empowers me daily. The second would be Janelle Go, our incredible loyalty marketing specialist and my right hand person. When we put our heads together, fireworks are made – strategies are synergizes and creative campaigns are conceived and executed. I couldn’t imagine doing my job without them both.
What’s the best thing about the industry you work in?
The loyalty marketing industry is so full of people from different backgrounds, with different life experiences and as a result campaigns are always dynamic, interesting and different. There’s so many incredible people wanting to collaborate and come together, and the cross over with the work we do in the health insurance industry makes the work we do even more rewarding.
And the biggest challenge?
Loyalty marketing has few challenges. But I would say that the regulations within the health insurance industry can be challenging to understand and work around when it comes to loyalty marketing. We have so many ideas for campaigns we’d like to run by members, but there can be a minefield things we need to consider and navigate so it’s not quite a direct path all the time. The team have built a mentality whereby we can try and find opportunities in other spaces or out of the box ways to still connect and reward our members. Luckily for us this has helped us with some of our best campaigns to date.
Whose job have you set your sights on in the future?
This is truly my dream job. I’m blessed to work with a great team and supportive management and there’s no better role within HCF that aligns with my passion and skillset. So at this stage there’s no one’s job in particular that I have my eyes on yet (maybe I’d have to create a new one).
Where do you turn for inspiration?
The environment I’m in. Whether it’s in the office, at home, walking by the beach, shopping centres, scrolling my phone or in a book, I feel that I explore and find inspiration wherever, or in whatever I’m devouring. Loyalty marketing needs you to be grounded and always acutely aware of how we interact with each other and different brands. Overhearing conversations, people watching and just being alive in public spaces inspire me. It’s something I struggled with during the pandemic where being stuck in the same room meant that I felt less inspired or creative than ever.
Tell us one thing people at work don’t know about you?
I’m such an open book with colleagues I feel like there’s very little they wouldn’t know already! However, one thing would be that I played the trumpet through primary and high school and was so terrible at doing so that I was excommunicated from the school band at one point. Fingers crossed I get more Louis Armstrong talent in the next life.
In five years' time, I'll be…
Overseas somewhere, still working in loyalty marketing or communications and seeing the world a bit more, hopefully still surrounded by amazing people and living in the moment. I’ll be finding the next exciting environment for work and life inspiration.
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