Ramona Wardan.
In this series, AdNews spotlights young talent in the Australian media, marketing and advertising sector. This time it's Equality Media + Marketing account manager Ramona Wardan
Time in current role/time at company:
I’ve been at Equality for nearly three years now.
How long have you been in the industry?
Almost six years. My first three years in advertising was at a media agency in St Kilda, it was a small team, so I was lucky enough to wear a lot of hats early on in my career. As much as I loved my role, I was eager to work in a full-service agency and get some experience working alongside people in creative, marketing and strategy roles.
How did you get here? Was this always the plan?
I have always been interested in the creative practice, and I thought I was going to be a cinematographer for a long time. I grew up with parents who both owned their own businesses and having that exposure from a young age prompted me to think about what other avenues I could take with a creative skill set. Soon after spending a few years studying Film and Television, I realised that the media industry would be able to give me the best of both worlds, creativity in a business setting.
Who is your right-hand person/who guides you day to day?
Amy Weatherlake (Equality’s Business Director) is my go-to person for just about everything. Once we figured out each other’s sense of humour, nothing was going to stop us from becoming good friends. Her door is always open. As much as that saying works figuratively speaking, she does sit right next to me, so whether she likes it or not, I have free reign to bombard her with questions. In all seriousness, she’s incredibly easy to work with and is my first stop whenever I need a second brain. I’ve found that more often than not, account management is about the little decisions you make for a client as much as the big ones and having her to help navigate each one with me has been invaluable.
What’s the best thing about the industry you work in?
I love the way advertising strikes such a perfect balance between creativity and data. The way evidence-based results give me the confidence to stand behind effective media and creative, and to go on that journey with clients from start to finish is incredibly rewarding.
And the biggest challenge?
Finding the best way to communicate. Every client is different in terms of what they need from you. It’s easy to default to information overload in media and ‘death by numbers’ is a real thing if you’re not careful. One of my favourite quotes is by Jony Ive, Apple's former Chief Design Officer. He says that simplicity is “not the absence of clutter, rather the order of it.” I’ve learned – sometimes the hard way – that the way in which we choose to tell a story (or present a proposal or campaign results) is just as important as the information we share. It’s an ongoing practice and one that I would have to say is the most rewarding part of my role, albeit it’s equally the one that requires the most attention and work.
Whose job have you set your sights on in the future?
I’m the kind of person who’s always looking over someone’s shoulder to see what they’re working on. I always want to see what our web developer, Will, is up to, or what Tora is doing in the back end of Google ads and Meta. As long I’m not only learning about my own role but also everyone else's, I’ll continue to grow and figure it out.
Where do you turn for inspiration?
I’m a big fan of all different kinds of films, and I love seeing the way directors approach different narratives. It makes me think about the similarities between how I communicate in my role and how someone tells a story through film, or music, or any other creative format. Even though I'm in a business setting, working in the advertising world, I think there's a lot to learn from that.
My favourite advert is (and why):
I remember this ad for a Sony Bravia TV. It was the one with all the colourful balls bouncing through the streets of San Francisco. It’s all in slow-motion, and it's got that wonderful song from Jose Gonzalez. I remember thinking “wow, that was only a minute or so long, and it really made me feel something.” That’s one of the earliest memories I have when I think about advertising, and it’s still the one that comes straight to mind when I’m searching for inspiration for ‘great ads’.
Tell us one thing people at work don’t know about you?
Maybe it's public knowledge at my agency, maybe it’s not, but I am quite a shy person. I think I have come out of my shell a little bit at Equality, but I still overcompensate my shyness with a whole lot of unnecessary jokes.
Where do you see yourself in 5 years’ time?
The year will be 2029, and I’ll be 32. I'd like to think that I would still be at Equality, if they'll have me. If my career keeps going in its current direction, I think I’ll be pretty happy.
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