1. Before we dive into your role at the Zoomo, what has your career journey looked like so far?
1)Learning about public relations (from Sex and the City đ )
I genuinely had no idea what I wanted to do or be when I was in high-school, until one day me and my best friend were sitting in the school library and she turned to me and said, âyouâd be great at public relationsâ.
Then after some back and forth and genuine âwhyâs?â, She sold me on the vision by noting it was what Samantha Jones did on Sex and the City. Although I can now confirm, this couldnât be further from the truth.
2)My career so far in PR
I studied a Bachelor of Commerce, majoring in Public Relations at the University of Notre Dame.
In my final year, I landed an internship at Ogilvy PR, specifically in the tech division called Howorth Communications. After a few weeks I was offered a full-time job. I remained at Ogilvy for a few years working across a broad mix of consumer tech and enterprise tech accounts, before making the move to London where I landed a gig at Bite Communications (now Archetype).
Bite introduced me to the world of clean technology and electric vehicles, where I worked on several brands in this space. It brought to the surface a real passion I didnât know I’d had about working with brands that were mission driven and striving to solve climate change. That passion grew and grew, and from there I never looked back.
I returned to Sydney and went back to Ogilvy PR as an Account Director where I worked specifically in brands in the energy and tech space. Understanding the power of this specialism, I wanted to do and learn more in the space, so I completed a course in Business Sustainability Management with the University of Cambridge. The course was challenging, lightning-paced, but equally rewarding.
Then one day I saw a lead PR job pop up for an Australian start-up called Zoomo, and here we are!
2. Transitioning into work, what does the Global Head of Public Relations @ Zoomo do?
What is Zoomo?
A pretty incredible Australian founded e-bike company that is disrupting the logistics sector and greening delivery across the globe.Â
Zoomo designs, develops, distributes and services cutting edge electric vehicle solutions (e-bikes, e-mopeds, etc) for the world’s biggest and most innovative delivery brands including UberEats, Deliveroo, Dominos, Doordash, Just Eat Takeaway, Pizza Hut, Gorillas, Milkrun, VOLY, SEND and many more.
How is the PR function structured?Â
Thereâs me, who heads up PR for Zoomo globally, and I sit in the small but mighty marketing team, reporting to the Global Marketing Director (Tom).
I also have two amazing PR contractors who support our PR efforts in the UK/EU and the US, and weâre about to hire a Communications and Content Executive in London, who will report directly to me.
Itâs an exciting time of growth at Zoomo, with new additions joining the company daily!
What does your role entail?
The beauty of working in a fast-growing start-up is that we get the opportunity to dip our toes into so many different facets of the business.Â
I am responsible for Zoomoâs PR strategy in our key markets (AU, US, UK, EU). My role is extremely cross functional, meaning I work with marketing, product, regional GMs and our executive leadership team to:
- Bolster Zoomo’s public profile
- Build integrated communications plans AND
- Stand up key moments and priorities for the business
My day on a page always looks different, but an example of what my day might entail;
- I try to start every day by reading the world and industry specific news (accompanied critically by an iced long black)
- From there it changes daily, with anything from:
- Developing media plans
- Building out proactive PR stories to drafting award entries / other content
- Even test riding our e-bikes.
3. Whatâs an example of a campaign that youâve worked on and what was your role in bringing it to life?
Campaign Name: Zoomo Funding Rounds (there’ve been a few!)
PR Example: Zoomo raises an extra $20 million for its e-bike subscription service
What was it?
There have been several big launches and campaigns that I’ve had the fortune to work on at Zoomo, but the funding round announcements come to mind first for me, as they always constitute big news and are such a critical part of raising awareness for the business and its continued global growth.
To use the most recent as an example, last month (Feb) Zoomo announced a US $20M addition to its Series B round (closing the full Series B round at $80M raised).
We announced that the round was led by strategic investors, a first for Zoomo, and highlighted how the additional funds will enable the business to grow more aggressively across the globe, and ultimately put more efficient, safe and clean transport solutions on our roads.
Every funding announcement is a blank canvas for the brand to highlight its success-to-date but also its hopes for the future, and I enjoy playing a part in bringing this update on our journey to the public.Â
What was your role?
The funding round announcement was PR led, followed by social and investor amplification. I followed 2 steps (like with most PR campaigns) to get the campaign to market:
Step 1 – Determining the narrative
Given we had just announced a raise a few months prior in November. The funding amount, investors involved and where the funds will go towards, is all important.
However, media publications/ journalists also want to understand the âwhyâ, and weave this into industry trends.
Step 2 – Developing & executing our global media strategy
Once the narrative was established I:
- Led the development of the global media strategy
- Development of comms materials (press releases for each market, media pitches, etc),
- Identification of media targets and hosted exclusive interviews in each market with our CEO.
I also managed our team of PR freelancers in the UK and US, who led the media pitching on the ground in their respective markets (they were absolutely crucial to the success of this raise announcement).
The funding round succeeded our coverage goals, and ultimately enabled us to raise more awareness of Zoomoâs continued growth. In the month of the funding round, Zoomoâs share of voice exceeded that of its competitors by a significant margin.
4. What do the entry level pathways into PR roles look like?
1) PR Overall
The job market has never been hotter, which means there are minimal barriers to getting an interview in this current climate. There is a job frenzy going on and people want smart, driven, passionate grads to come and work with them.
So in effect, the pathway is there, but the real challenge is actually how you show up to the interview. The art of the job interview is something that has been a bit muddied a bit in the post-covid, Zoom meeting world. There is a tangible energy that is hard to replicate on a video call, so itâs hard for employers to gauge the best fit in a 20 minute conversation.
Getting the little things right has never been more important. Showing up having done the research on the company with questions prepped, showing your personality and importantly your passion is critical.
2) PR in the tech industry
Tech / Start-up PR is no different to other comms roles; they are just turned up to 11.
Start-ups in so many ways are building the plane while flying it, so with a PR role comes a faster pace and an expectation to wear many hats and be able to adapt across departments and disciplines (be it internal comms one minute, gov relations the next, and a sprinkle of economic research as you wrap your head around funding raises and investor relations).
5. What’s one thing you recommend a young person who’s curious about working in PR do right now?
Find out what you are passionate about and make it known.
For example, if you are passionate about sustainability, go the extra mile and put your hand up for projects related to this space, consider upskilling through onlines courses or further study (I couldnât recommend the Cambridge course I did more), and importantly, constantly educate yourself by reading up on relevant news, trends and insights related to this âpassionâ area.
