Strands of Genius: Natasha Cormier + Pinterest Predicts 2023
featuring: an interview with our guest editor and a research report
Welcome to the Bonus edition of Strands of Genius! On Fridays, we’ll be publishing interviews from our guest editors, and sharing a research report. Thanks for being along for the ride. Oh and by the way, you look great today :)
:: STEAL THIS THINKING | RESEARCH REPORT ::
Some people use Pinterest to plan for the future. That means they claim to know what’s next. According to Pinterest, for the last three years, 80% of their report predictions came true. Do you think they are true this year?
:: DIVE IN | THE INTERVIEW ::
NATASHA CORMIER, NATIONAL HEAD OF TRADE MARKETING @ NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA
>> Natasha Cormier guest curated Strands on September 8th, 2023. Read it here.
Tell us a little bit about yourself and what keeps you busy. How did you end up doing what you’re doing today?
A long long time ago in a galaxy far far away... actually it was in London in the 90's, what a great time to be there. I lived in Stoke Newington before it became fancy, when there were punks in the area, I remember going to spy on them in Clissold Park, so fascinated by their interactions with each other. I had arrived from travelling around Asia, India and the Middle East for a year from Australia, in Australia it was a right of Passage back then and even better there were no mobile phones, no social media, I had not used the internet yet. I used to write long letters to my mum and send silly postcards to my friends and send currency from the country I was in to my little nephew, I still have all the journals I wrote. The world of work was my oyster as I'd only really worked in retail photographics and behind bars and as a waitress... So what does a confident, well travelled Aussie do in London, I knew I didn't want to do bar work as I knew that wouldn't necessarily get me where I wanted to go career wise. Someone had told me I would be really good at sales so that's what I set out to do. I tried a few things and it was terrible commission only hard core sales but then I finally found something I was good at it. By the time my 2 years in London were up I was a very confident Sales person so that's what I did when I got back. This led me into the magnificent world of magazines in the mid to late 90's and I never looked back. Back then you did everything end to end; answered in coming client briefs, created proactive brand work, sold ideas and brand integration before we even called it that, marketed our brand/s to advertisers and we didn't call it Trade or B2B Marketing, created and curated events, and held the relationships with the clients on a business and personal level. We always exuded the brand we were on so if you were on a fashion mag you dressed in designer, if you worked on a health mag you were into fitness and so on, you lived and breathed it like the audience you were selling. Fast forward 25 years and now I am Head of our B2B marketing team at Australia's biggest media company News Corp Australia.
What excites you most about what you do?
That I work with some of the best people in the industry so I feel inspired and challenged every day. Each day is different. We have over 120 stakeholders which keeps you on your toes. There are so many talented people, brands, events, research, insights and digital innovations coming out of our business which makes my job easy in a way as I have so much to talk about to the market. The trick though is to harness all this and connect it up into key pillars or what my key priorities are for the year otherwise it becomes too overwhelming for our customers. I have to say NO a lot.
What beliefs define your approach to work? How would you define your leadership style?
I'm a big fan of Simon Sinek so my approach starts with serving the team, being there to remove roadblocks so each individual in your team can thrive. But I have learnt you need to adapt your leadership style dependant on the situation. I naturally fall into being directive, especially under pressure which I balance out with long term coaching and vision. Im definitely more of a big picture as opposed to detail so rely on my team to know all the details when I need this info.
What has been the most rewarding project you’ve worked on and why?
So many to talk about but I'm most proud of a new brand we launched this year called The Growth D_Stillery. we were tasked with taking our world class research centre and branding it to be market facing so we could share the work we do for our own brands with others, our advertisers in essence, to help them grow. Business growth for our clients is what we are laser focussed on. So we created a new brand, amplified that brand across paid, earned and owned, launched a B2B podcast and have been highly visible at all industry events this year. From this we do client workshops and deep dives, and it has worked. We now have huge global brands coming to us asking us for these access session which almost always leads to a brief and after that a revenue upside. I can't wait to show everyone what we do next.
We are big believers in diversity -- Not only because we believe in equality, but because we also think it’s better for business. How do you frame these kinds of conversations, both internally and with clients? Is there an emphasis on action, or are the conversations really more about communication?
I am a member of our DE&I team and also our RAP Sub Committee so I am right in the middle of helping make change within our business and beyond. It's great to see the shift in the right direction and our people being active and responsive in positive ways. I think overall as an industry we all have a long way to go. At industry events this is top of mind so we are hyper aware that our business partners expect us to be proactive as we do of them. I do think we could all be better at communicating and perhaps celebrating all the good work we are doing in the space so it encourages others to lean in and thats it's safe to do so.
Switching gears a bit, how do you find time to balance personal interests with your career? Do you believe work/life balance is possible? Anything you’ve implemented that you recommend that others try?
Big, big fan of Steve Jobs who said “The only way to do great work is to love what you do”. From that then you don't need to “find balance” so much, which is frustrating if you are searching for that all the time. I gave up on the idea of that after we had my daughter. The secret is to find the thing you love or work in a role that you are passionate about and you will make it all work. Sure I have days where I’ve fucked something up in my personal life or work life as long as you don't give the raw end of the stick to one or the other too often, then you’re doing okay. I have been doing this a long time and I say surrender to it all of it, love it all, or find something else to do. I’ve quit a job after 8 weeks, at the time I felt brave but the culture of the place didn’t suit me and I was like NOPE. I rang around my amazing network and got some work within the week. Which leads me to some big advice, DON’T BURN BRIDGES and take advantage of every networking opportunity you can get. My last four jobs have come from my network, not from applying for a job on LinkedIn/SEEK, that’s almost impossible speaking from experience.
What’s your media diet? Where do you find inspiration?
Genius Steals newsletter every week of course! I also read all Australian trade press, global industry and marketing newsletters, our Chairman has great recommendations so I always read what he has sent through. I find inspiration from everywhere- industry events like Ad Week or SXSW, Vogue Codes, Galleries like MONA in Tasmania or MOMA. Music is very important to me so going to gigs regularly from big names to local bands and following creative musicians like Janelle Monae, Doja Cat, Billie Eilish, Beyonce (her current tour-WOW!) Travelling to places like Japan, watching interesting, sometimes mind-bending shows and movies like Dark, Stranger Things, BEEF, Squid Games, My Octopus My Teacher. I could go on but won't...
What’s the best piece of advice/knowledge you’ve stolen, and who/where’d you steal it from?
Always be yourself- I’ve been told this by a few people across my career because I think they see me for who I am and appreciate me for who I am as opposed to trying to make me fit into the box they want me in. I will not be boxed in!
You can keep in touch with Tash through LinkedIn.
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rockON,
faris & rosie & ashley | your friends over at geniussteals.co
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