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.
Sidney Hunwick: Sales executive at MiQ
Time in current role/time at the company:
Almost a year at MiQ!
How long have you been in the industry?:
Three years.
How did you get here? Was this always the plan?
Definitely not – I studied Law and Business for 4.5 years thinking I’d head into Law, but my interest was piqued by the marketing and commercial strategy side of things. I also grew up with both my Mum and Dad in the media industry almost their whole lives, so it was an industry I grew up around, knew people in, and they all made it seem like far too much fun!
I started with Nine as I finished uni, which found me in a TV sales coordinator role, but I always had a bit of an interest in the digital side of things, which took me down the path of exploring programmatic and joining MiQ. Pursuing all things AdTech has exposed me to so many evolving digital channels and made me a better salesperson for it; producing some really cool data-driven and strategic client responses!
Who is your right-hand person/who guides you day to day?
Madison Wappett, my current boss, has been my go-to since starting at MiQ. He has an absolute wealth of knowledge and experience he shares with me on the daily and I wouldn’t be where I am, a year in, without him. I also take a lot of guidance from my Dad – while there are often some heated discussions over the dinner table, I couldn’t be more grateful for all his help since I started in the industry. Together they’ve taught me a lot about our media landscape; the pressure points and the opportunities, but also simply, how to best deliver for our clients.
What’s the best thing about the industry you work in?
It’s the rapid pace of everyone and everything, the constant innovation alongside this, but also all of the driven, solutions-orientated people that make this industry what it is. The media industry is such a whirlwind, but an absolutely inspiring one!
And the biggest challenge?
So maybe it’s a double-edged sword… With the industry being so fast paced and always changing, I think the challenge is being agile. Change is great and it’s so rewarding being able to adapt your strategies and offerings to what’s going on in the industry and wider world, but it’s also sometimes exhausting always being on your toes and trying to stay ahead of the curve! In the digital world we’re still understanding how traditional media is making its move online, all while also dealing with the likes of our precious cookies crumbling and how we connect fragmented systems, data and tech.
Whose job have you set your sights on in the future?
I think the best thing about being in such an innovative area of the industry is that my future job might not even exist yet! I’m super ambitious and I know my passion lies in the commercial side of things – so I’ve locked my eyes onto working towards that!
Where do you turn for inspiration?
From a career perspective: definitely my Dad, but more broadly the industry across the likes of LinkedIn. It’s so amazing to see what’s going on, what clients are doing and any cool activations we can look into!
From a life perspective: podcasts and people! There are so many inspiring people out there and I love to hear their stories!
Tell us one thing people at work don’t know about you?
Honestly not too much… I talk enough that everyone knows everything about me!
In five years' time I'll be…
Still learning… but hopefully leading a successful and driven team, keeping clients happy and leaning into the strategy side of things to drive some awesome revenue outcomes.
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