Leah Grinter’s Post

Is LinkedIn a place for personal life posts? Ostensibly no. But when you’re the small business owner crazy enough to name your agency after your dog, make him the logo, put him in many a professional photo shoot, and take him to countless business meetings (apologies to all the very patient clients over the last seven years), *maybe* it does deserve an update here. So here goes: RIP Bruno, the ambassador, namesake and first (unofficial) employee at Brindle Marketing 💔 You will be missed more than words can articulate, but your legacy lives on. #brindlemarketing #socialmediamarketing #worklife

Is AI going to take over our jobs? You might have seen the recent trend asking ChatGPT how many r’s are in Strawberry. If not, please enjoy this ‘conversation’ with one of the most talked-about AI platforms. Side note: this is one ‘chat’ of many, by the way, none of which got the answer correct, and this one was disappointingly less gaslighting than others (the AI has since ‘learnt’ the correct number in case you want to try). If you’re a marketing or communications professional, you might have felt a sharp stab of fear when you first saw AI work its ‘copywriting’ magic in late 2022. But if you’re anything like me, I’m pretty sure once you read the nonsense it pumped out as ‘copy’, you were even more confident that some jobs need a human touch (and I genuinely believe content creation or copywriting is one of them). Around the same time, I had a wild conversation with another agency owner about the capabilities of AI to quickly write EOM (end-of-month) reports, which horrified me. Why? Because the point of EOM reporting (as much as we may not ‘love’ it, sorry Brindle Marketing team) is to LEARN something from the data. So we can optimise and improve campaign performance. Why in the world would we outsource one of the MOST important parts of the entire advertising process? Will AI change the way we live and work? Absolutely. Much like the internet, mobile phones (with actual screens) and social media, it’s a game changer for all of us. The optimist in me believes it should enhance our lives positively: let the machines do the hard yards so our brains can do what they do best and think creatively and strategically. And as long as AI can’t tell you how many r’s are in strawberry (without having to learn it), how much would you trust it with your business intelligence or critical decision-making? #AI #marketingAI #chatgpt

There’s a long-standing fallacy that there are B2B and B2C marketers. Something I passionately dispute. Of course, there are nuances, but this is the case with almost any business marketing activity. B2B decision-making cycles can be much longer, and the go-to-market channels might be different, but the thing all marketing has in common is the aim of connecting with and influencing the customer to make a decision. One thing that has differed wildly between B2B and B2C marketing over the years is the importance of building a brand, with a much higher focus on performance or conversion metrics in the B2B arena (in my experience). As an advocate of the power of top-of-funnel activity, I believe building a strong brand is critical for almost any business, with a recent study by dentsu reinforcing this. In fact, the research shows that raising brand awareness/top-of-funnel performance’ has jumped from the sixth most important factor influencing future strategy in 2021 to the most crucial in 2024 for B2B. But it’s not just about building awareness, it's also about communicating a distinct position or USP - something that 68% of buyers surveyed believe many brands are not achieving. I believe a huge opportunity exists for B2B businesses to own their space through brand-led marketing activity. Whether you're a business in the B2B or B2C category, ask yourself how much of your marketing budget you are investing in building your brand and what difference would it make if you moved even 10% from bottom of funnel to top of funnel activity? #brandmarketing #b2bmarketing #brandbuilding #marketing

This time last week, I had the pleasure of spending a day [and night] with my agency counterparts at the NOVA Entertainment Here & Now conference. Now, I’m a BIG fan of audio as a medium [even in today’s digitally-led media buying landscape], and the numbers don’t lie. 🎶 We’re consuming more audio than ever; in fact, 94% of Australians consumed audio [in some format] in the last week vs. 77% that consumed FTA [free to air] TV. 🎵 The good news for businesses and brands is that you can reach your customers on pretty much all audio formats, be it traditional radio, streaming, podcasting, Spotify, or a combination. 💸 One of the other things I love about audio is that it’s cheap to produce [which means you have a bigger budget for your media buy - sorry, all my creative agency friends] and it gives you more time to tell your brand or campaign story. 📈 It’s also influential with 'Lume Dentsu Attention Economy' recent study found audio had significantly more uplift in brand recall and brand choice than online video, display and social channels. 📻 Probably my favourite fact about audio is the power it applies to an omnichannel approach [which we are huge advocates of Brindle Marketing]. Data shows that adding radio to your campaign mix improves campaign performance [up to 47%] on all other channels, from TV to social. It might seem “old school” but there’s definitely a place for audio in your media mix in 2024. Thanks for having me team Nova 🥂 Becky Starr Ingrid Lennie #mediabuying #audio #advertising #radio

Yesterday, Justine Harvey and I hosted our first Gold Coast LXM lunch, which got me thinking about the inagriual Melbourne lunch we hosted five years ago at Lamaro's Hotel, BEFORE we were business partners at Brindle Marketing. The dream has always been to connect senior marketers and media leaders, and over the years, we’ve expanded the event into Brisbane and now to Brindle’s second home in the GC, meeting hundreds of incredible women in the process 🥰 It’s humbling that these very busy people are happy to take a few hours out of their day to meet their peers and talk shop or not (unless you get stuck next to me for a deep dive into marketing attribution and the importance of brand for lower funnel conversion - sorry Brooke Charlton). Thank you to everyone who joined us yesterday. If you’re part of the Melbourne or Brisbane community, watch this space; the next event is coming soon. And yes weirdly I’m clearly obsessed with white dresses, some things never change. Adelle Clements Lara Paholski Natassja Portman #womeninbusiness #womeninmarketing #mediagency #connection

Last week, I attended the relaunch of Brindle Marketing client Living Interiors in their spectacular new showroom (and promptly broke the rules by sitting on the furniture for a photo #socialmediapest 🙈). Since 1977, Living Interiors has offered the latest in Italian luxury furniture to the Australian market, and I was lucky enough to start working with owner Steven Berengo and his marketing strategist Gabriella Iacuone from Smash Marketing back in 2020 when COVID forced the closure of their showroom. For the first time in the brand’s history, we added social advertising into their marketing mix, allowing us to reach a new audience of customers (while they were conveniently locked in their houses contemplating new decor). Since then, I’ve watched the brand go from strength to strength, and this new chapter sees them expand their range to kitchens, offering a full-service interior design solution. One of the things I love about being an agency owner who prioritises long-term client partnerships is having the opportunity to be part of their growth and celebrate their success with them 🎉 When we started working together, Brindle was a tiny agency (with just a couple of staff), so it’s even more poignant that we’ve grown together. Their relaunch campaign (a complete omnichannel media solution that Brindle Marketing is now known for) is a testament to that. Congratulations to Steven, Gabriella and the team at Living Interiors. I'm so impressed by the new space, and I can’t wait to see what we can do together next ✨ #brandmarketing #rebrand #interiordesign #socialmediamarketing

Let’s talk about mistakes 🙈 I’ve just finished reading Think Again by Adam Grant. It’s a fascinating book about the power of rethinking your confirmed opinions and focusing on mental flexibility, humility, and curiosity over foolish consistency. In our rapidly changing world, the concepts in Think Again are not just thought-provoking, but also highly relevant both personally and professionally. I found the chapter on building a learning culture in the workplace particularly insightful. If you're wondering, the critical elements for learning teams are psychological safety and accountability. Grant references a study that initially found that people who felt psychologically safe in the workplace made more mistakes than those who were anxious. Reviewing the data, researchers discovered that actually, people who felt psychologically safe were more likely to admit mistakes (allowing businesses to improve processes and prevent them from reoccurring). Those who felt unsafe actually made more mistakes but were more likely to hide them, allowing errors to occur repeatedly, creating systemic workplace issues. Mistakes are inevitable (especially in the fast-paced media world). To quote a cheesy Christmas movie, “we’re only human after all”. Over a decade ago, I was educated by a very wise mentor that admitting to mistakes (and explaining the lessons or changes that could be made as a result) showed more humility and earned more respect than insisting everything was perfect all the time. It’s one of the most important career lessons I’ve ever learned. As a leader of a media agency Brindle Marketing I’ll be the first to admit mistakes are made, but I’m so proud we’ve built a culture of trust, respect, and openness within our team that means they’re discovered early and resolved, with processes put in place to (try and) ensure they don’t happen again. If you’re looking for a different perspective, the power to discover the joy in being wrong, or the ability to choose courage over comfort, I highly recommend adding Think Again to your reading list. And admitting to your mistakes 😉 #readthis #thinkagain #workplacepsychology

What an incredible three days at Cannes In Cairns last week. As an agency owner, taking a week out of the office to attend a conference *sometimes* feels like an unnecessary luxury. Luckily, this event was the direct opposite. As Australia’s leading media and marketing conference, exceptional content is a given, and the sessions did not disappoint. You can find a daily summary of insights and learnings over at Brindle Marketing (if you’re interested). Personally and professionally, it was the amazing connections with suppliers, colleagues and new friends I found the most rewarding (surprisingly for a self-confessed nerd). And the B&T cameo at the Tripadvisor welcome event, doing my best social media content creator work, was a highlight, of course 😉 Thanks to Pinterest for the free ink; what a novel idea for a conference momento; the b is for brindle (for anyone wondering). It might have been my first Cannes in Cairns, but it won’t be my last. Bring on 2025 ☀️🍹🤓 Adelle Clements Justine Harvey Nathan Alda Paul Tadich #cannesincairns #mediabuying #businessnetworking

It’s Volunteering Australia (VA) National Volunteers Week, and I want to share a little story. Every year (since 2014), I have written New Year's resolutions, which I generally achieve with varying degrees of success (and credit as life-changing). However, one thing I consistently missed was volunteering my time to a worthwhile cause. But that all changed late last year. With three months to go, late at night, I jumped on SEEK Volunteering and found an advert looking for a volunteer social media manager for Mange Management Victoria, a not-for-profit dedicated to saving Victorian wombats from Mange through public education and treatment. Slightly random, maybe, but with my background in eco-tourism and my marketing knowledge, it seemed like serendipity. Before contacting them, I had little idea of the devastation and cruelty of mange, an entirely treatable condition, on wombat populations. Without treatment, animals infested with mange will die a slow, painful death, and in the long term, we risk losing this iconic Australian species. 🥺 Thanks to Mange Management (and the team of dedicated in-field volunteers), thousands of wombats are being saved. I’m immensely proud to be playing my part, getting back on the tools, and single-handedly creating and managing their social media content (as opposed to being supported by the amazing team I work with at Brindle Marketing) as well as MC-ing the odd Sunday night webinar 🙈. In the last six months, their content has reached more than 3 million people ORGANICALLY on Instagram alone - ensuring that many more people globally are aware of the severity of this horrific condition and, importantly, how they can help - from reporting an affected wombat to donating. The theme of this year’s Volunteer Week week celebrations is aptly ‘Something for Everyone’, and I’m delighted to be celebrating it with my fellow volunteers for the very first time 🎉 #nationalvolunteersweek #volunteersweek #volunteering #socialmediamarketing

Recent research by Statista* has shown 54% of Australians consider sustainability ‘very important’ or ‘extremely important’ with another 38% saying it’s at least ‘somewhat important’. That’s 9 in 10 people! This consumer sentiment has jumped considerably in recent years and there is no doubt it will continue to grow particularly when it comes to purchasing decisions. Last week I joined over 80 sustainability, marketing and media professionals (including Zac Lisle) at the inaugural and timely launch of the Sustainability Tracker app. Once downloaded it allows consumers to quickly and easily access sustainability information simply by scanning the product barcode aiding purchasing decisions and responsible product disposable. Having been part of the Sustainable Choice Group journey since its inception it’s amazing to see how far the business has come in four years. A huge congratulations to Kiarne Treacy and the team on this latest innovation 🎉 #sustainability #sustainablemarketing #sustainableliving * Statista May 2024