Experience you can bank on: Shane Evans joins the Marketing Association

Digital marketer, Marketer of the Year and now, Marketing Association board member. Shane Evans arrives with quite the pedigree. And he’s determined to help foster a new breed of hyper ambitious marketer.

Shane Evans has led the marketing team at Auckland Savings Bank (ASB) for the last 11 years. Now he is setting his sights firmly on rural New Zealand. As part of his shift away from the big smoke, he’s moving back to his hometown of Invercargill to join Southern Building Society (SBS) Bank.

For Shane, stepping into a board member position for the Marketing Association feels like a natural move. And it’s a way for him to help encourage great marketing efforts across rural New Zealand.

“The opportunity for me to help provide a voice for regional areas will be a good addition to the board. If you're a large corporation it’s easy to be successful in marketing, because you're surrounded by world class marketers every day. But if you're a small to medium sized business, it's quite difficult. That's where the power of the Marketing Association really reveals itself,” he says.

Shane acknowledges our rural communities are the lifeblood of New Zealand. A sentiment shared by many Kiwis.

“There are so many amazing things happening in these areas, but they’re not well understood in Auckland or the other major centres. I plan to improve the way people communicate and showcase what they're doing in the regions,” he says.

Shane’s CV, although extensive, has been largely based around digital marketing. In his time he has been able to see the rapid evolution of technology and the impact it had on his profession. His goal now is to offer some of the wisdom he’s gained to smaller businesses in New Zealand.

“At ASB we were fortunate enough to be at the forefront of the digital marketing sphere. We had best-in-class programs globally around marketing automation, and we were able to look at how we develop modern technology to drive better outcomes for customers. A lot of this is not well understood regionally because a lot of technology hasn't been adopted here,” he explains.

For Shane, what is holding us back is the industry's habit of overcomplicating terms, advice and education.

“As marketers, we make the whole industry unnecessarily complex at times, which causes people to switch off. If I can provide a pragmatic, sensible and considered voice at the table to represent some of those smaller businesses, that would be beneficial to the whole industry,” he adds.

To get marketers to switch back on, so to speak, Shane is passionate about helping upskill, train and develop budding industry leaders. Something the Marketing Association is heavily invested in.

“I've been really impressed with the CEO John Miles and the work that he's putting into development and accelerated programs for future CMOs. Although it's an uphill battle, it’s important to keep people at pace with the market.

“The reality is we’re coming up to a very challenging period in New Zealand due to many influences. Businesses now are going to have to really focus on improving their marketing to drive growth,” he says.

The role marketing plays in business growth has always been a key factor. But for Shane its places like the MA that are really driving the next generation of marketing-minded individuals.

“We are now needing to think strategically about where we want to be in the future. And it’s the Marketing Association that can ensure people have access to the latest and best information to train marketers and provide them with the best quality of thinking,” he says with purpose.

Those in the industry will certainly benefit from Shane’s background. Securing the accolade for Marketer of the Year in the 2021 New Zealand Marketing Awards, Shane is putting focus on encouraging the next generation of changemaking CMO’s.

“The Marketing Association’s Marketing Accelerator is an example of how the body is helping people step into CMO roles. It's a really exciting initiative to help equip those who are truly ambitious about the industry.

“Marketing is a profession where people come and go. In order for us to maintain discipline, we need really strong marketers, first and foremost. So any way that we can help contribute and support them personally is a really good thing,” he says.

Shane hopes his presences on the Marketing Association board will inspire some really imaginative marketing from its members.

“Under John Miles' leadership, I believe the MA has started to demonstrate it can bring real capability to New Zealand entities and businesses. And I'm quite excited about some of the initiatives that are now underway. I feel at this point in my career, particularly after the success I’ve had at ASB, it’s a great time for me to contribute a little more to the industry.”

Interested in joining the next generation of CMOs? Click here to learn about the Marketing Associations MA Accelerator.