In this series, AdNews takes a look at some of the professionals working across the advertising, adtech, marketing and media sector in Australia. This time it's Starcom Australia client services director Drew Groves.
Time in current role/time at the company:
I’ve been with Starcom Australia for eight months.
How would you describe what Starcom does?
To move people and inspire them to act, which ultimately moves brands forward, it’s not enough to just reach them. By understanding people at a human level and designing a communications approach that elicits a human response - a feeling, a new belief, a spark of curiosity, or a reaction – we ultimately drive a deeper, more enduring connection with the brand. At Starcom, we design and execute connections plans that deliver on this belief to grow our clients’ businesses.
What do you do day-to-day?
I lead a team of hugely talented, motivated and kind-hearted planning and investment legends to deliver the best possible communications plans for our key client, TPG Telecom. While the team are excellent at what they do, their jokes are generally terrible. The good thing is mine are worse, so we complement each other pretty well.
Define your job in one word:
Fulfilling.
I got into marketing/advertising/media because:
In all honesty, because entry level fitness strength and conditioning roles were all unpaid internships for one or more years, and I couldn’t afford to not be paid to work after university. Once I got into this industry, however, I stayed because of the learning potential and the daily opportunities you have to connect with a diverse group of people across all kinds of disciplines.
What’s the biggest challenge you face in your role?
Ensuring the requisite percentage of my time every week is dedicated to each of my people – while I generally achieve it because I specifically prioritise it, it’s not always straight forward when things get busy!
What’s the biggest industry wide challenge you’d like to see tackled?
Making sure we continue to attract the best possible talent to our industry and retain them long-term. I’d also say the same about people already in the industry – what changes can we make to motivate our people to want to be champions of our industry?
Notable campaigns/initiatives:
Some of my proudest work in previous years was the Sydney Water behaviour change campaigns during the drought of 2018-2020, and Tourism Fiji’s ‘Where Happiness Comes Naturally’ brand launch campaign in 2023. This campaign did a really important job of helping to boost Fiji’s tourism economy and sustain the post-COVID bounce back.
More recently, launching Felix Mobile’s new brand platform ‘Not all Talk’ has been a genuine career highlight. It’s not every day you get to work on a brand that combines such a strong product with a genuine brand purpose that puts our environment first.
Who has been a great mentor to you and why?
My former boss Catherine Edghill changed the trajectory of my career through the leadership example she set. Before joining her team, I was considering leaving the industry. Working under her and learning from her rejuvenated my passion for agency life.
In this role, I’ve already learned more from our chief operating officer Louise Romeo than I could possibly have hoped for in such a short time. She also has a genuine empathy for people that I can only hope to replicate in how I lead my team.
Words of advice for someone wanting a job like yours?
Don’t lose sight of what you’re motivated by and what you enjoy, and actively put your energy into keeping those as priorities in your day-to-day.
If I wasn’t doing this for a living, I'd be:
A stay-at-home dad with my two beautiful children Sophie and Sam. Soph is only three, but it’s never too early to start ‘Project Caitlin Foord’ for the Women’s World Cup 2039.
My philosophy is:
I have two key ones I try to abide by consistently – ‘Treat others how you’d like to be treated yourself,’ and, ‘The standard you walk past is the standard you accept’.
My favourite advert is:
The recent Norwich City FC ad for World Mental Health Day was excellent. It highlighted a difficult topic incredibly well while being emotive and powerful.
If we’re talking overall campaigns, I think Tourism Tasmania’s ‘Come Down for Air’ and ‘The Off Season’ work is some of the best I’ve ever seen.
Music and TV streaming habits. What do you subscribe to?
I’d struggle without my Spotify and YouTube premium subscriptions. I’m not someone who binge watches TV because my wife always Googles the ending. But I’ll sure as anything get lost in a YouTube hole watching 30-minute vine compilations or two men build a mansion with an Olympic-sized swimming pool in the middle of a jungle.
In five years time, I'll be:
Still trying to think of a good answer for where I’ll be in five years time.
Have something to say on this? Share your views in the comments section below. Or if you have a news story or tip-off, drop us a line at adnews@yaffa.com.au
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