Our Young Gun profile takes a look at some of the young talent across the advertising, adtech, marketing and media sector in Australia. It aims to shed light on the varying roles, people and companies across the buzzing industry.
Jack Winter: Digital strategist at Orchard.
Time in current role/time at the company:
I’ve been at Orchard for two-and-a-half years, I literally started the day the pandemic got real, I’ve never had a first day quite like it.
How long have you been in the industry?
This is my sixth year working in digital marketing and agency land.
How did you get here? Was this always the plan?
Post a brief quarter-life crisis (how Millennial of me), I joined digital creative agency Orchard as a social strategist nearly 3 years ago. Since then, I haven’t looked back. I’ve doubled down in digital, where my day-to-day is deep in the world of integrated strategy, all with data at the core of my work.
Who is your right-hand person/who guys you day to day?
The cool cat, knock-out strategist that is Mikaela Crimmins, or more formally known as Orchard’s Head of Strategy. Mik is my absolute go-to on anything strategy related and has been a catalyst for advancing my career. Not only has Mik provided me with plenty of complex client problems to sink my teeth into, she’s also helped accelerate my development to become an integral part of Orchard’s Strategy team – and an integral part of the work we deliver when Inventing Better for our clients.
What’s the best thing about the industry you work in?
Being able to deliver meaningful work that impacts true change for people. Whilst a lot of strategists work on clients that are about selling product, many of our clients at Orchard operate in the healthcare/pharmaceutical space.
This means working with clients who have lofty goals to rid the world of diabetes, or those who are developing strategies to improve the quality of life for people living with HIV, and even those tackling the stigma many people face. Being able to contribute to improved patient outcomes reiterates the positive impact insightful communications can have on society.
And the biggest challenge?
The biggest challenge comes with the territory I work in – getting meaningful work across the line in the healthcare space. Whilst clients want to do great work, there is robust risk mitigation processes required due to the highly regulated nature of the communications they can deliver. This means often taking clients on a longer journey to help mitigate the risk and showcase the true, positive impact the work can have.
Whose job have you set your sights on in the future?
Watch out Mik – I’d love to be head of strategy or chief strategy officer down the line. What excites me about leadership in strategy is the ability to flex in a range of strategic disciplines. The ability to dive deep through different disciplines, whether that be in the world of Customer Experience strategy or through Brand Strategy, provides constant opportunities to understand true business problems and deliver innovative solutions that make an impact, both for the client and the customers/patients.
Where do you turn for inspiration?
I love the work a New Zealand brand, Whittaker’s chocolate, does. They tell simple stories elegantly. They deliver rich storytelling is (and rich chocolate!), yet they have such a simple approach. Their most recent example, where they rebranded their signature milk chocolate to include the Māori words of Miraka Kirīmi, shows a simple yet elegant connection to the New Zealand psyche and continues to build their strong affinity as a product Kiwis can be proud of.
Tell us one thing people at work don’t know about you?
I’m a bit obsessed with city planning. Not in IRL but in the virtual. One of my favourite computer games is Cities: Skylines, which is similar to Sim City from back in the day – but way more powerful. I spend countless hours looking at real life city design via Google Earth as my source of inspiration for virtual city development.
So who knows, I may eventually move from Strategic Planning to City Planning?
In five years’ time I’ll be…
Another watch out Mik – let’s see if I can get into that senior leadership spot in Strategy! In all seriousness, my next five years looks like flexing into a wider variety of disciplines and continuing to round out as a true ‘T shaped’ planner.
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