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Entrepreneurship in emerging technologies with Vaibhav Namburi – Episode 14 – Cut the Cliches

Straight off the back of last week's bonus episode, we're turning now to emerging technologies. Think artificial intelligence, mixed reality, augmented workforces and other new shiny buzzwords in marketing and business. We get the insights directly from the source this week as I sit down with one of Australia's brightest entrepreneurs, Vaibhav Namburi, or V as he's more commonly known.

Disclaimer at this point is that V and I have worked together for a couple of years as we mention in the show.

I genuinely believe that he's one of the country's best and he's active on social channels. So after you've heard the show, check out some of his videos on LinkedIn. He's an engineer by trade who's now solving business problems using technology for some of the world's biggest companies.

He's already built a blockchain solution for the United Nations, mobile apps for the likes of William Hill and News Corp along with PwC.

Not only that but he's built his own product in the form of automated recruitment platform Laddr, a company built by devs for the hiring of devs. An automated and anonymised recruitment tool which allows engineers to portfolio their work and save time without the need to do multiple tech tests. Disrupting recruitment by reducing the shortlisting process for candidates down to a few clicks.

Vaibhav Namburi - Five2One founder - Emerging tech - Commswork best B2B tech PR agency Sydney Melbourne Brisbane

We delve into some of his insights as a founder and marketer of his own brand:

- We discuss how he got into the industry
- How to differentiate yourself in business
- Marketing methods he’s used in his business
- How to harness social media
- What’s next in emerging technology in the 12 months
- Ethics in AI
- Challenges he faced with building his businesses
- Branding
- Problem solving in growth marketing
- The biggest lessons he’s learned
- Why he focuses on marketing
- The importance of simplicity, messaging and trust in business
- Cliches

If you like what we’re up to at Cut the Cliches, please give us some online love in the form of reviews on your podcasting platform of choice. We welcome all thoughts and keen to hear more about what you’d like to see on the show next.

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Data in Sport part 2, Ian K Partilla GumGum Sports – Cut the Cliches

Following on from last week’s episode from Sport Accord, Episode 13 was also recorded at the event. And in our second part of data in sport, we turn our attention to AI as we enlist the help of Ian K. Partilla, head of global revenue at GumGum Sports.

The focus of our chat was around the opportunities in sponsorship and digital media. 

In this episode we discuss: 

  • his role at GumGum
  • the opportunities for sports teams in how they categorise their digital and social assets
  • the role of ad-tech in sports
  • what the future of the technology could mean for brands.

Ian K. Partilla started his career in 1998 at the ESPN X Games before joining Disney and ESPN Media Networks focusing on the emerging sports streaming business.  

Five years at NBC Sports Ventures saw him take up VP roles in partnerships and sponsor strategy. 

In February 2018 Ian joined GumGum Sports  an Artificial Intelligence company that leverages computer vision technology to help brands, agencies and rights holders identify the full media value of sports sponsorships. 

He says that by analysing live TV broadcasts, social media and digital streaming, GumGum Sports provides accurate, timely, and comprehensive media valuations. 

Here’s this week’s episode, please let us know your thoughts below:

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Cut the Cliches Episode 12 – Data in fan engagement with David Melia, Global Web Index

We headed to the Gold Coast in May for Sport Accord. We were lucky enough to speak with some of the speakers at the event and first up we have David Melia, head of sports at Global Web Index.

David Melia (left) and Liam Fitzpatrick (right)

GWI is the world’s largest survey of online behaviour and we quiz David on how data is increasingly being used in sports to improve the fan experience.

In this episode we discuss his role at GWI, how he got into the industry, the challenges he’s faced, what he does on a day to day level, the opportunities for brands in the sporting space and what we should look out for in the next 12 months. 

Look out for our second part on data in sport next week, also from Sport Accord, which will include Ian Partilla from GumGum Sports.

In the meantime David’s episode is below, let us know your thoughts:

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Cut the Cliches episode 11 – Psychology of Choice, Lauren Fell

Episode 11 looks at the psychology of choice and we’ve got someone who is very familiar in the workings of this area, we have the help of PsytAssist co-founder Lauren Fell. 

Our head of communications Liam Fitzpatrick first met Lauren following a global design contest for NASA which she had won.

As someone researching how we can predict human behaviour, Lauren discusses: 

  • how we make choices every day
  • the role of intuition/nostalgia
  • how we can reframe choices, including anchoring
  • how unconscious bias influences us
  • trust
  • how shopping is a form of gambling
  • decision fatigue
  • bias in interviews 
  • and her upcoming research project. 

Lauren is co-founder of PsytAssist – a startup aimed at bringing technological solutions to psychologists. She also works as a Customer Insights Consultant, research assistant, as well as in various positions within the mental health space. Her main research interest is in the application of quantum physics principles to cognitive phenomena such as decision making, looking at the ways in which classical laws of probability fail to hold true both in quantum physics as well as in the way humans make decisions.

We hope you enjoy this week’s episode, please leave your feedback below:

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Cut the Cliches Episode 10 – Super Bowl Advertising – Liam Fitzpatrick hosts live Networx panel

Cut the Cliches hits Episode 10 and to celebrate we’re bringing you a special live edition which looks at the issue of Super Bowl advertising.

Our head of comms and host Liam Fitzpatrick acts as facilitator in this session which comes from Victoria Park Ballroom in Brisbane, and is part of the Networx event series.

The panel includes:

  • Sarah Kelly, associate professor in law and marketing at University Queensland
  • Rob Hudson MD at Clemenger BBDO
  • Luke Wheatley, head of creative and content for Flight Centre.

We discuss this year’s most successful spots, which ones failed, whether paying $5m for 30 seconds can deliver on ROI for brands, the power of competitive interference, lessons marketers can take away, as well as the panel’s favourite all-time Super Bowl ads.

This week’s episode live from Victoria Park Ballroom, enjoy:

Here are some of the ads we discussed:

Bumble

Kia

Carl Junior gives the Super Bowl its first plant based burger ad

Pepsi subverting a common preconception about its brand

Off-brand effort from Olay with Sarah Michelle Gellar

Newcastle Brown Ale runs spot in 2014 about the ad they would have made with the right budget

The original ad which launched the “you’re not you when you’re hungry” campaign for Snickers

Volkswagen “The Force” remains the most watched ad of all time

Dollar Shave Club’s humourous ad was Luke’s all-time favourite ad
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Cut the Cliches – Episode Nine – Roland Storti

ICOs are soooo last year, well the first half of the year anyway. It’s all about Security Token Offerings (STOs) if you’re looking to raise capital in the crypto space now.

Regulation is needed in the space, according to our guest this week Roland Storti, who joins us for part two of our blockchain special. This week we pick up where we left off, with London-based founder Storti who was in Brisbane for Urban Motion at the end of 2018. We caught up with him backstage so apologies for any background noise from speakers.

A picture of Liam Fitzpatrick and Roland Storti taken at Urban Motion in Brisbane
Liam Fitzpatrick and Roland Storti at Urban Motion

We speak to Roland about:

What Minfo is and how it started.

Why he’s focusing on events and developing a LinkedIn meets Tinder functionality.

He walks us through the difference between ICOs and STOs.

Regulation in the space.

How technology is democratising the investing.

The importance of building a community.

How to run an STO, what you need to know.

Token models in business and the immediate future for STOs.

The future for Minfo. And we close on the importance of weekends and a social life for founders.

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Cut the Cliches – Episode Eight – Tom Nash

This week begins our blockchain technology special.

For Episode 8 we caught up with Tom Nash, CTO and co-founder at Flex Dapps back in September 2018.

Tom guides us through the language in the industry along with:

Tom Nash

A brief history of ICOs
Explaining Dapps and what he's doing with Flex Dapps
The potential for blockchain
The barriers for the technology
The importance of data security
And regulation in web3.0

 

Tom is a Software Engineer of five years and CTO and co-founder of Flex Dapps. He's been working with the Ethereum blockchain since 2016. He has a deep interest in everything decentralised and has run countless beginner and intermediate level workshops over the last 18 months. If you ask around for technical blockchain experts in Australia, Tom’s name is one that will pop up time and time again.

Cut the Cliches returns a week on Sunday with part two of our blockchain technology special.

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CutTheCliches – Episode Seven – Guy Munro

Our second run of Cut the Cliches is here. After a paternity hiatus we’re back and will be running shows fortnightly, every other Sunday. Check back then as we start a special on blockchain technology.

Episode 7 we look at voice and its impact on our daily lives.

Amazon Echo Spot

We’ve enlisted the help of Guy Munro, Global Business Director at Melbourne agency Versa to guide us through:

His background
The buzzwords/cliches in voice
What’s been the biggest impact of voice so far?
Why we haven’t seen more case studies
The potential for the sector, including current barriers
Uses of voice
Versa and its work
Opportunities for brands
What’s next for Alexa/Google

Guy Munro

Guy is currently at the helm of Australia’s first enterprise-level voice experience agency, VERSA, working with clients locally and throughout Asia-Pacific and Europe. He has delivered ground-breaking voice experiences including Australia’s first ever transactional skill and works with highly recognised brands including Dominos, Flight Centre, Village Cinemas, The City of Melbourne and GoGet. He has a reputation as a respected digital practitioner with over 20 years of digital expertise spanning digital strategy and brand development, platform builds and transformation programs.

Inside Versa’s voice studio – the customer journey wall of stats
Milo the dog
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Cut the Cliches – Episode Six – Sarah Kelly

Apologies for the delay loyal listeners. Life, or more specifically the birth of our first baby, has delayed things slightly on the podcast front. So this will be the last in the first series, but check back in 2019 for our next instalment.

For this one though we tackle, Sports Marketing, which is never far away from the headlines – whether it’s Nike’s campaign with Colin Kaepernick or the fall-out from the sandpaper-gate scandal which rocked Aussie cricket.

In episode six we enlist the help of Sarah Kelly. We caught up with the Associate Professor of Law and Marketing at her University Queensland office to find out why sports sponsorship can be a good investment.

Sarah is also:
Brisbane Lions, Deputy Chair
Global Esports Institute, Director
Sports Analytics, Director
Tourism & Event QLD, Non-exec Director
Wandering Warriors, Director
National Education Advisory Committee AICD, Advisory Member
Speak Study, Director

Sarah leads a global sports innovation accelerator at UQ, and has been a judge and mentor for two of these accelerators, including pitching finals during the NBA Allstars event in LA and the Commonwealth Games.

She has multidisciplinary expertise in marketing, psychology and law and is globally known for her research and consulting in sports management, law and marketing. She is widely published in the sports field, with recent projects including, sports scandal impacts, mega sporting event legacy impacts, sponsorship metrics and esports.

We cover:
– the burgeoning esports sector
– the commercial impact of sports-stars’ indiscretions for sponsors
– the tribal behaviour of fans
– the brand opportunity within female sports
– we touch on the ‘Sandpaper-gate’ scandal
– And the buzz Nike was able to generate with its purpose-marketing Kaepernick campaign.

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Cut the Cliches – Episode Five – Ben Beath

Digital.

A word which has become increasingly ambiguous. From a periphery channel, to core competency.

Within marketing the digital element of a campaign used to be considered as an after thought. Today brand planning centres around reaching consumers in a digital world.

It still means differing things, depending on who you ask. And for us here at ‘Cut the Cliches’, we turned to a man who has decades of experience in the field, leading his agency since 2009 and the era of mobile, through to the customer experience focus which his 150+ agency has today.

Ben Beath, MD at Loud & Clear helps brands transform internally to become more digitally enabled. Simply put, it’s about taking legacy infrastructure and streamlining the process for today’s increasingly time-poor workforce. This can, and often does involve automation, as we discuss the impact of Industry 4.0 on how jobs are viewed. Ben speaks about how to mesh technology decisions with customer-centred design thinking – we ask him what this means in practice for brands like AGL and FFA that he’s worked with.

Cut the cliches - Commswork - Loud & Clear - Ben Beath

We caught up with Ben, in his central Melbourne office, on one of the floors which the agency has expanded to following its acquisition by US-based global IT consulting group Avanade.

Throughout the podcast we discuss:
– what the acquisition means for Loud & Clear
– what are the most over-used phrases in the industry
– the effects of automation on the workforce
– the rise of customer experience officers in brands and how it’s affecting briefs
– how digital agencies can differentiate themselves in an increasingly crowded market
– and the effect consultancies are having on the conversations he’s having with clients

Next week we have a special on voice search, so tune back in for that.

Until then, enjoy your week.