Pure is delighted that Stephen Sun has joined us as Account Manager. As a retail marketing gun who has the talent to match his energy, Stephen’s brought extra capability and positivity to the team, so let’s see what he’s got to say.

How has your retail advertising experience set you up for what we do at Pure?

Retail advertising is very transactional, reactive and fast paced. We’re always responding to competitor activity so our messaging needs to be simple and compelling. By necessity, account managers need to balance nimbleness with agency process and missing deadlines is not an option.

Having worked on ALDI, what can other clients learn from their success?

ALDI is a challenger brand in a market dominated by Coles and Woolworths and therefore they needed to be irreverent with their messaging to get cut through. They were unafraid of pushing boundaries and their creative in market was always brave and tongue-in-cheek. While supermarkets might seem very different to finance, being human, keeping things fresh and connecting with customers remains the same.

Have you ever thought a campaign wouldn’t make a deadline?

While working with the Australian Electoral Commission in 2016, the government called a snap election but didn’t confirm the polling date until the weekend before. The account service team was left scrambling trying to find resources to despatch ads to national publishers. Not wanting to have to explain any mishaps to AEC officials, I’m proud to have been part of the team that despatched over 900 print ads in 6 hours.

Can it be hard balancing client needs with the creatives’ desire to push an idea?

While balancing different priorities can be challenging at times, the Pure agency’s focus on results and working collaboratively with clients makes it easier to align these two things. That means being passionate advocates for the creative, while also treating the client’s goals as imperative. Key to adding value as an account manager and enjoying the job is helping clients see the benefits of pushing creativity while keeping creatives aware of business realities and objectives.