October 8th, 2022Not ‘local’ but loving Hepburn

ADAM Ferrier makes the point that he is not a “local” to Hepburn Springs as such, but he does spend most weekends there – taking time out from his base in St Kilda.

A regular panellist on TV shows such as Gruen, Sky, The Project, Your Money and Sunrise, he says he gets stopped in the street only about once a month with a “you’re that guy from…”
Adam and wife Anna finally bought a house after years of visiting and falling in love with the town’s “bohemian sensibilities” and the easy drive to Melbourne. “We just fell in love with it.”
The marketing guru started life as “the kid who traded shares at lunchtime” with an interest in money and people. He went to a tutor who told him to become a consumer psychologist, which Adam thought was a fantastic idea. “I started as a forensic psychologist just to get work and then moved into clinical psychology and did my thesis on the underlying constructs of what makes people cool. That then allowed me to move into consumer psychology and transition into marketing and advertising which is what I do.”
(If you are wondering, there are five factors involved in being cool, but knowing them doesn’t make you cool. And Adam says he is not cool because no-one would ever call him one of those factors, understated.)
Adam founded Naked Communications, APAC in 2004 – one of Australia’s most awarded and successful agencies. After selling Naked, he started Thinkerbell, working with the concept of ‘measured magic’ – bringing together marketing, science and hardcore creativity.
“Basically, we come up with ideas to help clients build their brand and get recognised and get attention – that is at the heart of what we do. And within that there is a whole lot of different sub- categories – it could be a PR thing or a big advertising campaign or a digital initiative. We work with the biggest brands in Australia.
“Our clients come from a whole bunch of companies trying to sell their thing or social causes trying to get more people to their movement or charities trying to get people to make more donations. And when they need help there is a whole industry of creative and media and social and PR agencies and they will have a fossick around online and pick one. Currently we are Australia’s number one Creative, Full Service and PR Agency of the Year in Australia according to Mumbrella so if they look at recommendations, we come up on the top quite a lot and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy that you try to hold on to as long as you can.”
Adam said during Covid his business did quite well with lots of brands trying to transition into different business models. The main issue for his own business was cultural.
“Having a strong culture for a creatively driven business is really important and making sense of that culture while everyone was separated was the biggest challenge.”
Adam said as a part-time local he was enjoying the drama of The Rex and Hepburn Shire Council – and, when prompted by The Local, had some advice.
“The big buzz word in marketing is authenticity and I really like the Jung concept of embracing your shadow or your dark side. And with that comes embracing your weaknesses. So when you stuff up in a momentous way you just need to admit it, wear it and then work from there.
“I think from there the first thing they (the council) need to do is listen and then have a good understanding of how they can rebuild trust in the institution. I would also encourage them to get as many voices as they possibly can into the council. The more people with a voice means you can build trust and make those people heard. Then you are going to have people involved with a vested interest.”
Finally, Adam says the future of local newspapers is really strong.
“There is the whole concept of news deserts appearing everywhere and what that means is that people are starting to really value their local newspaper. They realise that something they took for granted is under threat.
“And then at a business level there is lots of talk about people getting back into local and community news. Social media has a cliché that we are more connected than ever but have never been more alone. That is kind of true and I think people are trying to discover a sense of local community and newspapers are incredibly good at making people feel genuinely connected to their community. I think The Local’s motto Connecting the Community is spot on. The future is really strong.”
Words: Donna Kelly