Speakers
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Lizzie Parker
Head of Marketing, Westland Milk Products
Transforming Westgold into a Global Brand Platform
Tim McInnes
Managing Director, Ruffells
From YMCA to The Kind Foundation: Reimagining Our Brand Narrative
Steve Thomson
Executive Creative Director, 4AM
Discovering the Stories Behind the Ayrburn Brand Experience
Lizzie Parker
Head of Marketing, Westland Milk Products
Transforming Westgold into a Global Brand Platform
Tim McInnes
Managing Director, Ruffells
From YMCA to The Kind Foundation: Reimagining Our Brand Narrative
Steve Thomson
Executive Creative Director, 4AM
Discovering the Stories Behind the Ayrburn Brand Experience
Lizzie Parker
Head of Marketing, Westland Milk Products
Transforming Westgold into a Global Brand Platform
The marketing team for West Coast dairy brand Westgold faced a huge challenge. They needed to convince the wider company and stakeholders to radically pivot from a B2B legacy to FMCG and invest in building its own consumer brand.
Lizzie Parker is here to share the incredible journey the team went on which deservedly saw them nominated as a finalist in the Brand Transformation category at the 2023 NZ Marketing Awards. Find out how they went up against established international brands with much bigger marketing budgets to get into Walmart, built a bold new brand story to gain cut-through and proved the value of marketing to the overall financial success of the business.
- Developing a story and bringing a new brand persona to life
- Understanding if the brand message was connecting with customers
- Making every brand touchpoint work harder
- The challenge of launching a premium brand during a cost of living crisis
- Lessons, results and what’s next?
About Lizzie
Lizzie Parker is Head of Marketing at Westland Milk Products. She is responsible for the overall marketing of the Westgold, Westpro and the Westland brands globally.
Seven years with Westland has meant management of significant change across the Westgold brand and market expansion, to company ownership. Lizzie has spent most of her career working across CPG businesses in brand and product marketing roles both in New Zealand and overseas, noting that many of those products she has been able to eat or drink: beer, mayonnaise, cookies and butter. While not a CPG business, time with Dynamic Controls, owned then by multinational technology company, Invacare, opened her eyes to new ways of working and enabled her to introduce an insight-led approach to positively impact people with disabilities.
Her heart however is in the agricultural sector so a stint at PGG Wrightson and now back in dairy with Westland working across employees, farmers, customers and consumers provides a wide mix of opportunities to spend time with down to earth people, as well as leading marketing strategy and creating brand and team growth.
Tim McInnes
Managing Director, Ruffells
From YMCA to The Kind Foundation: Reimagining Our Brand Narrative
After 161 years, the Christchurch branch of YMCA left the organisation in order to reposition themselves in the market and achieve a broader share of voice in the Not For Profit sector. In 2024, they relaunched as The Kind Foundation with a new brand narrative and logo, supported by a solid social media strategy and wide stakeholder support.
Tim McInnes from agency partner Ruffells talks us through the unconventional journey, with a business model unlike other charities, and a total shift in direction for the organisation. Learn what was involved at each step of the way, from understanding the initial request to bringing the brand to life through real applications, and the outcome for both client and community.
About Tim
Tim’s years spent telling stories as the owner of a successful boutique brand and video production company have honed his ability to balance artistic vision with strategic outcome.
His mission is to facilitate maximum return on investment by crafting compelling work that converts leads into loyal advocates.
Able to craft nuanced narratives, Tim now helps brands differentiate their offerings and stand out through marrying bold strategy with memorable outputs.
No stranger to big brands with hefty budgets, as well as squeezing every last bit of potential out of the final 5 bucks in the kitty, he’s an empathetic creative with a logistical mindset.
Working from within the team, bringing good humour and focused guidance to your project Tim shows up with a genuine knack for delivering what you need, as well as what you didn’t know you wanted.
Steve Thomson
Executive Creative Director, 4AM
Discovering the Stories Behind the Ayrburn Brand Experience
At first glance, there wasn’t much to work with. Just an overgrown wasteland, a place from the past. So how did the team behind spectacular new food and wine precinct Ayrburn manage to create such a multi-faceted brand that’s radically changed perceptions and now sits firmly as a top 10 must-do attraction for visitors to Queenstown? It all comes down to storytelling. And some clever marketing. Don’t miss this true South Island success story.
- The insights that made the brand: tapping into authentic stories to create unique experiences
- Generating awareness and repeat business from different audience groups
- The value of investing in high quality brand assets
About Steve
Steve’s training in design and branding along with experience in content creation led him to found the business in 1999. Skilled in Brand, Advertising, Digital Marketing, Design and Creative leadership Steve has a passion for working closely with clients to ensure that in each project, strategic insights drive exceptional creative outcomes. Steve’s most satisfying experiences to date have been working with some of the best minds and talents in the business.
About 4AM
For 25 years 4AM has worked across design and advertising with an integrated approach designed around customer needs rather than traditional structures. We bring it all together with a hands-on and personalised team able to define, design and deliver through identity, story, campaign and comms.
Vanessa Bottomley
Marketing Strategist, Publica
Your Host & MC
About Vanessa
Vanessa has worked in brand and marketing for more than 15 years. Working across professional services, education, hospitality and retail (with a stint at the Marketing Association not so long ago!), Vanessa has always been driven by curiosity. Now at Publica as a Marketing Strategist, Vanessa works with a variety of clients putting her curiosity to best use; helping businesses uncover who they are, how they show up and how they can best compete in their space.
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