Our Young Guns profile takes a weekly look at some of the young talent across the advertising, ad tech, marketing and media sector in Australia. It aims to shed light on the varying roles, people and companies across the buzzing industry.
Previously we met Hypetap sales manager Aynaz “Naz” Fathi. Today, we meet Blue 449 strategy director Max Broer.
How long have you been in the industry?
Around 6.5 Years.
Duration in current role/time at the company:
3 months in the current role, but also had a 2 year stint in the Match strategy team.
What were you doing before this job and how did you get this gig?
I’d been working as a strategy director at UM when Blue 449 head of strategy Zara Cobb proposed catching up for a beer.
Little did I know there’d also be a job offer involved to return to Blue 449 and help build the strategic product and team.
Define your job in one word:
Subjective.
What were your real and cliché expectations of working in the industry?
That I’d be dealing with interesting problems, creative thinkers, big ideas and a solid balance of hard work and fun times.
How does the reality match up?
Pretty much on par really, though I’m very thankful that there are more organised minds than myself to keep the day to day ticking along.
How would you describe what the company does and what does your role involve?
What I love about Blue 449 is that it’s an agency without ego. The open source philosophy gives us licence to partner up with anyone we think will add value to the solutions our clients hire us to create.
We’re a new network, but one that understands the value of letting local markets express themselves and not operating like a global dictatorship.
For my role, helping develop the strategic output across the agency, the freedom is amazing. We’ve got a licence to test new thinking and do things differently, but with the comfort of global backing and leadership.
Best thing about the industry you work in:
It’s never static. When everything around us is a potential solution to a comms problem it’s impossible to be bored.
Any major hard learnings in the job so far?
Selling ideas and solutions can be far harder than coming up with them.
If you had to switch over to another department, which would it be and why?
Analytics. What they do at Blue 499 has changed the game on a number of clients driving smarter decisions, qualified insights and overall, more effective work.
What's exciting you about the industry right now?
That there is a genuine appetite to bring more scientific rigor to our ideas and campaigns.
What concerns you about the industry and its future?
Short-termism. I get that there will always be quarterly shareholder reports to release and marketing KPI’s to deliver, but is driving increasing investment towards “attributable” media the right answer?
What we need to remember is just because you can measure it quickly, doesn’t mean it is effective in the long term and I’m concerned that both marketers and agencies are developing a culture of quick wins at the cost of long term strategic planning and investment.
Who's your right hand person/who guides you day to day?
Think I’d be in trouble if there was only one, so I’d say our strat team. We’re a weird bunch of opinionated overthinkers who bring out the best in each other.
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