Senior marketers in banking, education, telecommunications and retailing have revealed their biggest challenges on stage at AdNews Perth L!VE.
While the last couple of years have been tough with marketing feeling the squeeze in an uncertain economic environment.
For the next 12 months, marketers across categories are concerned about the unrelenting pace of change, industry complexity and international policies.
The oversaturation of products is concerning for BankWest general manager of customer, marketing and communications Jodene Murphy.
"There's just more and more stuff - more data, more emerging platforms, more opinions," Murphy said.
"So a real challenge is how to stay focused on your strategy with everything coming at you all of the time? How do you stop going down rabbit holes?"
Similarly, Kitchen Warehouse chief customer officer Simon Lamplough battles with the complexity of the rapidly changing industry.
To combat the lack of understanding around AI Lamplough has enrolled his entire company on a ten week AI course with a US provider called the VJAL Institute.
"There are a lot of snake oil salesmen out there within the world of AI but I can highly recommend VJAL," Lamplough said.
TikTok Shop is another platform Kitchen Warehouse is preparing for, with its launch predicted for mid-this year in Australia.
"Every retailer needs to be thinking about how they’re going to present their TikTok storefront and how they’re going to get ready to feed the content hungry requirements of a TikTok shopping audience," Lamplough said.
"We’re busy working on how we create bespoke product and new In House Brands to cater to that consumer In the US TikTok shoppers rely on UGC, unboxings and customer review videos to inform their purchases. So us being able to generate high volumes of authentic, user-generated content is going to be really important in driving product sales.
"As will building a strong base of affiliate marketing partnerships across Australian TikTok content creators. We’ll also need to curate our Kitchen Warehouse shop with products that are affordable, on trend and appealing to a younger demographic."
Clive Bingwa, Nikki Atack, Haylee Felton and Jodene Murphy.
For Pentanet Chief Experience Officer Nikki Atack the biggest challenge has been time.
"Time to learn new platforms, develop teams, plan, strategize, and the time to analyze what's working and what's not is the challenge that's always been there," Atack said.
"One of the ways we overcome that barrier of time is working with external partners who add value, productivity and bring in capability we might not have, whether that's our creative agency or media agency or consulting partners.
"That is not a luxury expense, that's a strategic investment."
The external factors within the current volatile international market is the biggest challenge for University of Western Australia chief marketing officer Haylee Felton.
"UWA has done a really good job of positioning itself internationally, getting a lot of its growth from international students - but now there has been policy changes that are outside of our control," Felton said.
"Locally we've got declining ATAR participation and we've got all these alternative pathways to university being a challenge."
AdNews would like to thank supporting partners Nine, Audience 360 and Nexxen alongside associate partners JuiceBox, MiQ and LiSTNR for making the event possible. As well as Friends of AdNews WAMA, PADC, and IMAA.
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