Our Young Gun profile takes a look at some of the young talent across the advertising, adtech, marketing and media sector in Australia. It aims to shed light on the varying roles, people and companies across the buzzing industry.
Nikki Davies, Growth and partnerships manager at Foxcatcher
Time in current role/time at the company: 8 Months
How long have you been in the industry? 5 Years 4 Months
How did you get here? Was this always the plan?
This wasn’t part of my ‘plan’, but I cannot say I have ever been much of a structured planner when it has come to my career and to life itself. Life happens, people continue to grow, learn, adapt, get inspired, and build relationships along the way, to have everything set in stone.
I have always been interested in/obsessed with Psychology, understanding people and the mind. So much so that I completed my bachelor’s degree in psychology after high school, with the goal of having the capability to help people. Whilst I was studying, I was offered an opportunity in sales, which surprisingly continued to prove as my biggest strength. I was offered my first media sales job within programmatic back in 2018, and I have never looked back. Any role that I was going to pursue in my career would allow me to work directly with people to help them achieve their goals. Digital and programmatic sales have bought this to life for me in several ways.
Who is your right-hand person/who guides you day to day?
Each team and individual member of Foxcatcher is a hand, arm, or leg of mine. I wouldn’t be able to show up and fulfill my role to the best of my ability without each of the teams supporting me and collaborating together on a day-to-day basis.
What’s the best thing about the industry you work in?
There is too many to list! For me personally, I love the collaboration and challenge within the industry. The fact that I can work on putting together a strategy along with so many different teams and businesses. From the brand directly, through to creative and tech, it always allows for great idea sharing, hearing different perspectives and methods of thinking. This way of working continuously challenges me to push the boundaries in my way own of thinking and I love seeing ideas come to life.
I also enjoy sharing my knowledge with others. Having always been in the programmatic and data space, a crucial part of my role has been facilitating education directly with agencies and brands so they can be armed with the knowledge to make educated decisions. Everyone learns in different ways, so that “ah-HA!” penny drop moment when I have helped someone learn something new, or made sense of a particular subject, is always the best feeling!
And the biggest challenge?
With the nature of a fast-growing industry, and the current economic uncertainty, it is more important than ever for brands to focus their investment on digital and creative.
Challenging times in the economy means that marketing budgets more than ever, need to deliver value. The way brands can ensure they are future proofing their success and growth in 2023 and beyond, is by implementing digital strategies that are measurable and provide data driven, actionable insights. Utilizing omnichannel strategies and effective audience / first party data solutions, will ensure brands have complete transparency and control in a traditionally siloed landscape, to continue learning, understanding, and adapting to their audience. With a rapidly changing industry and consumer buying behaviours, it can be a challenge for brands to keep up. But implementing the right technology foundations, and getting creative in their messaging and personalisation, brands can navigate and drive success.
Whose job have you set your sights on in the future?
Naturally, I look forward to continuing my development and leadership within the business. With the nature of Foxcatcher being a small team, I honestly look forward to watching my growth and partnerships team grow, and I look forward to nurturing and helping anyone that joins my team in the future.
Where do you turn for inspiration?
My leaders and team members are always my go-to when I need to bounce ideas or tackle a challenge. Outside of work though, I really value my family and friends to have open and honest conversations with me when I need it. They truly inspire me to be the best version of myself and can provide some fresh perspectives. I also make sure I take time for activities that keep me grounded, healthy and creative, such as gym, pilates, meditation and art. It’s important to make time to have fun and bring out your inner child, they too can be quite inspiring.
My favourite advert is (and why):
Pauls smarter white milk “I just want milk that tastes like real milk”, because I am one of those weird people who love drinking a glass of full cream milk, and I can understand the taste of betrayal after having a sip thinking it’s the real deal when it turns out to be skim milk or worse…This ad is funny, simple, yet so relatable! The brand nailed the relatable context of going down the street just to buy milk, and they nailed the personas and attitudes of the two characters. Like our coffee culture, we have a strong milk snob culture in Australia. You can ask almost any person, and they will tell you their preferred type, or even brand of milk that they buy, or order with their coffee. This ad has managed to stay relevant, and if not become even more relevant in time.
Tell us one thing people at work don’t know about you?
I think my colleagues know me quite well, but there would be many, many things that I’m sure my colleagues would be shocked to learn about me…
In five years time I'll be:
Excited to see the growth within my team. Continuing to build and challenge my own skills within the leadership space, and hopefully I will be mentoring and helping others with their growth and development so that they can reach their own goals.
I will also have a Golden Retriever (or two) and live happily ever after.
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