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.
This week we speak to R/GA Australia executive technology director Ciaran Park.
Time at the company:
Eight months - 50% on location, 50% zoom.
How would you describe what the company does?
We help brands thrive in the new economy. As the world, people’s behaviour and technology are constantly changing, we are persistently evolving to help our clients thrive in the future. Whatever that may be. Creating truly connected brands by combining stories and systems, all powered by technology and data.
What do you do day-to-day?
Generally up pretty early around 5:30, to get out and exercise through cycling or the gym. Then whilst commuting to the office I check morning comms in email and Slack, looking at what's happening in the R/GA network. Once in, mornings are generally taken up by leadership/team meetings then it’s onto presentations, projects and new business/initiatives. My days are split between teams in Sydney, Melbourne and the APAC region.
Define your job in one word:
Dynamic.
What’s the biggest challenge you face in your role?
Education that technology doesn’t have to be governed by large monolithic solutions. There are nimbler, cloud solutions that free clients of slow and costly change.
What’s the biggest industry-wide challenge you’d like to see tackled?
Clients being held ransom and restricted in growth by large enterprise or proprietary solutions. Technology should be an enabler, adaptable to the new, not something that is a bottleneck through cost or slow change.
Previous industry related companies you have worked at:
AnalogFolk, TMW Unlimited, Specialmoves, AMV BBDO.
Who has been a great mentor to you and why?
I’ve had many people I’d called mentors and I wouldn’t be who and where I am today without them so a big thank you to those, however, Sir David Attenborough has always been someone I respect and admire. I owned all his books as a kid and even wrote to him asking how he got to where he was. After a while I received a handwritten letter back from Pre-Sir Dave himself talking about his fascinating life journey. His thirst for knowledge and always wanting to understand the world and new technology is something I’ve always been inspired by.
Words of advice for someone wanting a job like yours?
Don’t do things just by the book, break convention, do it differently and treat everyone as humans they have aspirations to and it’s likely you’ll share some. This is as applicable when applying for a job as it is to winning work and working with incredible brands.
If I wasn't doing this for a living, I'd be:
Probably building something in a shed, bikes maybe or perhaps my original calling of Marine Biologist.
My mantra is:
The only person you should try to be better than is the person you were yesterday
My favourite advert is:
It’s tough, not sure I could pick one, but some of my absolute favourites have been Johnny Walker - The man who walked around, Old Spice - The man your man could smell like, Nike - Nothing beats a Londoner, Channel4 Paralympics - We’re The superhumans.
Music and TV streaming habits. What do you subscribe to?
Google Youtube Music, Netflix, TED, Disney+ (definitely for Marvel), Optus Sports #spurs.
Tell us one thing people at work don’t know about you?
I used to be a vet nurse, I got out before anything died.
Best thing about the industry you work in:
It’s ability to adopt new technologies in fascinating ways, be it using A.I to better understand sentiment in customer behaviour, or merging the digital and physical worlds with augmented/mixed reality. We work with some incredibly talented people who are able to bend the rules of technology into new, exciting experiences for brands.
Within the last six months/year, what stands out as the company’s major milestones?
Understanding agencies are built upon an incredibly diverse set of people with individual needs, that we need to reflect that in the way we work, so completely resetting what it means to be an agency lead from the bottom up was a massive statement by a new R/GA team in truly saying we are the new agency, built by all.
In five years' time I'll be:
Probably still going on about machine learning…Whilst still creating and producing innovative technology and data driven experiences for humans.
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