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.

Commswork presents – Cut the Cliches Podcast – Episode One

It’s all happening.

That’s right, Commswork is launching a new podcast.

We look to get behind the jargon and buzzwords of an industry and every week we invite a guest to guide us through their field.

Kicking us off is Mark Gustowski. We headed to the Brisbane offices of QUT’s Creative Enterprise Australia CEO for episode one. We discuss Mark’s two decades of startup experience, including his time in the Melbourne scene during the Dot Com boom and London after the 2012 Olympics announcement.

Startup expert Mark Gustowski

In his own words, Mark is the CEO at QUT Creative Enterprise Australia, a startup factory based in Brisbane supporting startup founders in the creative tech verticals. With experience in building and supporting startups and growth companies across Australia, the US, Asia and Europe Mark has designed and run accelerator, incubator and investment programs nationally and internationally.

Having worked extensively across the public and private sectors, Mark has led the development of government policy and programs that support industry development and has also co-founded a number of startups in the tech, investment and FMCG sectors. Mark has invested in a number of Australian tech startups and sits on the board of organisations in the startup, renewable and investment sectors.

Having built national and international relationship that support Australian industry development Mark is passionate supporter of the Australian industry and tech space.

And we can confirm, he’s a thoroughly nice chap!

Enjoy.

Oh and look out for our next episode with author of The Million Dollar One Person Business and experienced journalist Elaine Pofeldt.