1. Before we dive into your role at me&u, what has your career journey looked like so far
My career began working at global media, PR, and digital agencies with brands like Foxtel, Universal Pictures, and Mumm Champagne. I started off specialising in social media and it’s pretty crazy to think about how much the landscape has changed since I started – Instagram stories weren’t a placement and TikTok was nothing more than a song about waking up in the morning feeling like P Diddy.
I worked my way up from a Social Media Coordinator, wrestling with trolls on the regular, to a Social Media Lead, overseeing a team of seven by the time I turned 25 – something I’m still super proud of to this day and a reminder to anyone starting out in this industry that age doesn’t get in the way of doing great things.
After I decided to hang up my agency boots, I was keen to move into a broader role in marketing as I always loved being able to look at things with the lens of the bigger picture and wider ecosystem. These days, I work with startups and scaleups as I love helping businesses set up their foundations to scale and grow.
I’m undecided on whether i’ll stay in marketing forever, but I’m sure i’ll always end up in a role where art meets science.
2. Transitioning into work, what the heck does a Marketing Manager @ me&u do?
A great question! One I’m still trying to figure out how to explain to my mum…
What is me&u?
You might know us best as the brains behind the technology that lets you order your beer and get it delivered to your table at your local pub. No more leaving the table and standing in long queues or having to flag down the waiter for your bill at the end of the night. We’ll even remember your drinks order if you’re up for another round – you’re welcome.
How is the marketing function structured?
We’re a fairly new function at me&u so it’s been incredibly fulfilling to see the team grow over the last few months. We’ve got an in-house team of specialists in:
- Brand and communications,
- Product marketing
- Digital marketing and
- Design
We also work with a number of amazing agency partners. Our team looks after all the markets that we operate in around the world – AU, NZ, UK, and US.
What does your role entail?
It’s a little bit like the professional version of playing dot-to-dot. I oversee our brand campaigns, always on activity, and feature launches for me&u.
Which means working really closely with all the other departments in our business – Sales, Account Management, Onboarding, Product, Business Intelligence, Customer Experience, and Finance.
A couple of things I got up to in the past few weeks:
- Looked at data to uncover Australia’s #1 most ordered pub meal with Pedestrian TV (hot tip: It’s the humble schnitty)
- Worked with our creative agency on a photoshoot to capture content for the launch of a new productÂ
- Planned out our events and activations calendar for the next year with our UK team
- Sent my team my favourite Simpsons gif (Homer disappearing in the bushes) on Slack before I turned my out of office on for annual leave
- Visited a pub and ordered a drink for “research purposes”
3. What’s a project you’ve worked with on in your currently role and how have you helped bring them to life?
Campaign Name: Reigniting Hospitality
Creative Example: Staff tips and schnitzel sales soar as Sydneysiders return to the pub
What was it?
A campaign designed to build a better future for hospitality and inspire extraordinary memories coming out of lockdown in October 2021.
We worked with thought leaders in the industry to create a whitepaper on our tips for reopening, spoke to Channel 7 news about the most ordered pub classics in the first week of reopening, and even crunched the numbers to show Australians just how much the spirit of hospitality shines through in our country with tips for staff soaring.
What was your role?
- Made a pretty schmick looking deck to present our marketing plan to cross functional departments in our business
- Conducted some pretty deep investigative journalism to uncover the most frequently ordered cocktails when bars reopened
- Briefed in our design team on content to help encourage people to support their favourite hospo venues coming out of lockdown
- Downed a lot of pints – all in the name of supporting hospo of course
4. What do the entry level pathways into marketing in tech look like?
Despite what my career journey was like and what Google’s top ranked article “From entry level to CMO” will tell you, I’d like to think the opportunities for new talent to break in are so much more flexible.
Some go about it by making websites where they interview people in marketing (Hi Ryan), while others will slide into the LinkedIn DMs of someone who they think is getting paid to do some pretty interesting things for a living.
Whatever your method, be prepared to master the art of venn diagrams and make sure you know your way around an excel spreadsheet beyond a SUM formula (or remember the coffee order of someone who does).
5. What’s one thing you recommend someone who wants to work in tech marketing do right now?
You’ll have to speak up, I’m wearing a towel.
