Slideshow with Dave Hayward, Ep 13, Season 2 (#26)
Episode links
When Anna Lawrence joined Auckland Transport, the brand was Auckland’s punching bag. For six months, people asked her what she’d been thinking.
Anna is GM of Marketing and Media Partnerships at AT, and she has made a habit of choosing brands that need work. This one came with no strategy, no foundations and a patronage collapse after COVID, with bus driver shortages and floods on top. She started with customer insight. The data said 63% of Auckland car trips could be swapped for public transport, and that became Mix Your Go. She refreshed the look at zero cost, trading corporate navy for a bright shore blue, and built long-term platforms so every campaign had something to stand on.
Four years on, frequent bus routes have gone from 14 to 46, the City Rail Link is open, and AT has made the biggest one-year jump Kantar has recorded in its public sector tracking. Anna’s explanation is simple. People have to like your brand before they’ll act on what it says.
Then the practical part, for anyone who signs off creative. Anna’s test is three emojis: fine, good or great. Only great goes to market. She explains why a good idea makes the room bounce and a bad one makes you start fixing, and why she scrapped a campaign late and changed agencies.
Recorded live in the Podcast Bach at the Business Expo in Auckland. The Podcast Bach was designed and run by Stu Lees, and Jay Downes edited the episode. Anna was in top form. The audio and visual equipment spent the morning losing a fight with noise from the expo floor!
Links and things
Slideshow with Dave Hayward podcast links:
Produced by Europa Creative Partners
Chapters
00:00 People have to like your brand before they’ll listen
01:00 Taking on Auckland’s punching bag
05:00 Selling public transport in a city built for cars
07:15 Sometimes you’re putting lipstick on a pig
11:00 Creativity on a shoestring: the 70/20/10 rule
15:15 From corporate navy to shore blue
18:00 After the CRL: a new era for AT
21:00 Build your network before you need it
22:15 Is it fine, good or great?
25:30 If you’re fixing it, it’s the wrong idea
Keywords
Anna Lawrence, Auckland Transport, brand turnaround, brand strategy, public sector marketing, public transport marketing, Mix Your Go, City Rail Link, Kantar, brand refresh, creative feedback, agency relationships, Podcast Bach, Business Expo Auckland, Slideshow with Dave Hayward
FAQ (for humans and search engines)
How do you turn around a brand people dislike?
Anna started with customer insight, then built a strategy and the foundations underneath it. She set up long-term communication platforms so each campaign built on the last. And she made the brand easier to like, with humour and warmer ways of talking to customers. It took four years, and AT’s Kantar public sector score jumped 11 points in one year.
Should marketing wait until the product is perfect?
Anna says no. Sometimes the marketing runs ahead of the product, then the product catches up and you go again. When AT launched Mix Your Go there were 14 frequent bus routes. Now there are 46, plus the City Rail Link. If you wait until it’s perfect, you never start.
How do you get people out of their cars and onto public transport?
AT’s data showed 63% of Auckland car trips could be swapped for public transport. So Mix Your Go didn’t ask people to give up their cars. It nudged them to mix how they travel, then sold the benefits, such as getting time back to read, scroll or learn something on the bus or train.
How do you know when a creative idea is good enough?
Anna asks her team whether the work is fine, good or great, and only great goes to market, even if that means moving a media booking. Her second test: a good idea makes the room bounce with new possibilities. If you find yourself fixing an idea, it’s the wrong idea.
Can you refresh a brand with no budget?
AT did. The in-house creative team refreshed the brand at no cost. They started with colour, moving from a dull corporate navy to a bright shore blue taken from Auckland’s harbours and sports teams, then built in a design that had been gifted to AT. It now runs across the new electric buses, ferries and trains.
