Why you should connect your marketing campaigns to diversity

As Mardi Gras is just around the corner, organisations are ramping up their support for Australia’s gay community.

But it’s not just about the better cause, there’s a business strategy behind as well. ANZ is one of the frontrunners and are now famous for their “GayTM” campaign. 

By sponsoring and supporting Mardi Gras and Auckland’s Gay Festival, ANZ has improved its own brand and reputation, while reaching a larger market breakup.

Not only does ANZ profit from this strategy, they’re also pushing for broader societal acceptance of the LGBTQI community, and for the allowance of equal marriage.

While it might be easy to think that “sure, let’s just create a campaign with some gay people in it, and that will improve our brand and grow our market” it’s not quite that simple. Despite the fact that ANZ had already proven successful with their campaigns, they don’t drop the guard.

“We take a lot of care in testing it and sounding out these ideas and making sure what we are doing achieves its purpose but also hits the right mark, because the last thing we want to do is miss that mark and offend anyone,” Carolyn Bendall, Chief Marketing Officer of ANZ’s Australia division, told Mumbrella.

This year they have created a campaign called “Hold Tight”, includes a video featuring members of the LGBTQI communities, who let go of each other hands because they feel uncomfortable in public.

“It is a really important part of us as a brand, the issue is important and nobody would dispute that, and it has enabled ANZ to have a more authentic voice because we’re talking about something that is true to our DNA and it is absolutely true,” Bendall continued.

ANZ, along with organisations such as Meat & Livestock Australia, Western Sydney University, AFL, Optus, Cricket Australia, will present their diversity and inclusion strategies and how to effectively connect those to business growth, at Akolade’s National Diversity and Inclusion for Business Growth Forum.

Mimmie grew up in Sweden and first came to Australia as a backpacker after high school. After travelling around the country for two years she returned to Europe and pursued a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism in London. But the longing for Australia and the sun became too strong. After having worked for some time in the media industry, Mimmie decided to make a change and swap the news for conferences. She now gets to do what she loves the most, meeting new people and keep learning about cultures and issues while producing conferences on current topics.

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Leaders address Indigenous mental health issues and increasing suicide statistics

Leaders from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and health professionals from around the country gathered to discuss strategies to improve the mental health outcomes of Indigenous Australians.

As mental health issues among Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities keep worsening and with the suicide toll increasing, the need for discussion is crucial.

Kevin Cox, one of the founding members and first CEO of the Kimberley Aboriginal Medical Health Service, opened Akolade’s National Indigenous Mental Health and Wellbeing Forum in Perth on February 13.

Kimberley in the WA is one of the most affected regions, with suicide statistics being the worst in the world. The issue is especially pressing among the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth.

Despite that the Indigenous population only makes up around three per cent of Australia’s population, 80 per cent of Australia's suicides of children aged 12 years and less are of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.

David Cole, founder of Balunu Foundation in Darwin works tirelessly with at-risk youth in Darwin. He works on increasing the self-esteem, confidence and emotional and spiritual wellbeing of indigenous youth so that they can become strong, balanced individuals.

The foundation has long struggled for funding as the government cut its ongoing funding to support the organisation a few years ago.

But the future of Balunu is looking hopeful, following the federal government’s announcement of a $10 million investment over three years to roll out a national indigenous suicide prevention plan.

The NT government has also announced that it will dedicate millions of dollars more on youth diversion programs.

Dameyon Bonson, founder of Black Rainbow, spoke at the conference on the need to address suicides and mental health issues among Indigenous LGBTQI people.

"As an Aboriginal gay male myself, I noticed that in a lot of the health promotion materials that there wasn’t anything that spoke positively to Aboriginal LGBTQI people," he told SBS.

He told the audience of a 13-year-old gay boy, who took his life last November after having been bullied and physically attacked.

There is currently no data on the statistics of LGBTQI Indigenous suicides, but it believed higher than the rate of Indigenous suicide, which in turn is higher than Australia's total rates.

"There are 50,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who identify as LGBTQI and a lot of them are under the age of 25," he told SBS. "We need to do better."

Despite the raw and emotional nature of the conference, many left the room feeling empowered with further knowledge and strategies and new connections.

Written by: Mimmie Wilhelmson

Mimmie grew up in Sweden and first came to Australia as a backpacker after high school. After travelling around the country for two years she returned to Europe and pursued a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism in London. But the longing for Australia and the sun became too strong. After having worked for some time in the media industry, Mimmie decided to make a change and swap the news for conferences. She now gets to do what she loves the most, meeting new people and keep learning about cultures and issues while producing conferences on current topics.

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Is social recruitment becoming a real thing?

It is no secret that social media has become a significant part of our daily lives. We recognise this as Facebook becomes the first social network to surpass 1 billion registered accounts.

So as people flock to these social sites, professionals are constantly doing the same.

Here I’ll suggest the involvement of recruitment agencies and their attraction to these sites – as for recruiters, why not use these platforms where candidates are most accessible.

The term ”social recruiting” is a buzz phrase used throughout the HR world, which can be defined as “harnessing the evolution of Web 2.0 technologies and social media tools to communicate, engage, inform and recruit our future talents”(Jacobs 2009).

The use of such social networking websites allows recruiters to connect to a broad array of talented and capable candidates in niche communities (Jacobs 2009).

Jobvite’s 2014 Social Recruiting Survey revealed that 93% of recruiters are using social media in their outreach. The top social sites searched by recruiters are LinkedIn at 92%, Facebook at 66%, and Twitter at 52%. According to respondents, 73% or recruiters hired successfully with social media, 42% companies acknowledge that candidate quality has improved and 20% say it takes less time to hire.

In the recent case of Karl & Peluchette, job offers have been rescinded and internships terminated on the basis of pictures and messages posted on Facebook.

In their Jobseeker Nation Study 2016 (PDF), Jobvite found that job seekers are aware and are becoming more careful about what their profiles reveal.

As statistics and studies tell, social recruitment drives results and is here to stay.

Written by: Tooka Myanga

Tooka Myanga is part of the marketing team at Akolade, specialising in database and direct campaigns. Tooka is currently pursuing her bachelor’s degree in Commerce. Tooka grew up in Mongolia, where she has acquired many incredible stories to share.

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It’s time for Not-for-Profits to get creative about finances

There are no doubts that the Not-for-Profit sector in Australia is struggling. Funding is becoming harder to obtain and competition is increasing.

Despite the decrease in government funding, the 2015 Not-for-Profit Finance & Governance Insights report found that 63% of large NFPs primarily rely on government funding and 85% of all NFPs find it difficult to find consistent and regular income.

“The biggest challenge is the slow but sure decline of the traditional business model,” says Sturt Eastwood, Chief Executive Officer of Diabetes NSW.

“Not-for-Profits need to become more commercial in their approach to revenue generation.”

Although there is less funding available for NFPs, the demand for their services is still there. But if organisations don’t manage to secure funding and successfully look after their finances, they won’t be able to provide any services at all.

There’s a lot of passion in the sector, but the commercial knowledge is limited, according to Eastwood. Eastwood explains that the need to diversify ones income streams is crucial. The days of volunteers rattling a can on the street to collect money is no longer working as an income stream and the return on these activities is dwindling.

Organisations may need to look into options such as becoming a social business or social enterprise, forming new partnerships and diversifying their service set.

He urges NFPs to start testing what they do in the market place, just like commercial business do, to see what services and products work best.

“In the Not-for-Profit sector we tend to do the same thing. Is this a world-class product that is delivered well? We never really had world competition,” explains Eastwood.

There is also an increasing need for NFPs to be transparent with how they spend money. They need to show accountability as more donors ask to see where their donations are going.

“You have to be very careful and clever on how you use money. You have a greater duty of care to use donated money carefully,” says Eastwood.

It is evident that the Not-for-Profit sector is undergoing one of its biggest challenges to date, and if organisations don’t take control of the situation and become more business-minded, they will be forced to close their doors.

Hear more from Sturt Eastwood and other NFP sector leaders share their knowledge and expertise at Akolade’s upcoming 2^nd Annual Not-for-Profit Income Generation Forum being held on the 7^th and 8^th March 2017 in Sydney.

By targeting four main focus points – diversifying income streams, developing partnerships and mergers, improving fundraising and marketing strategies, and developing a financially agile management model – attendees receive holistic strategies to increase income and cut spending across all levels and departments within their organisation.

Written by: Mimmie Wilhelmson

Mimmie grew up in Sweden and first came to Australia as a backpacker after high school. After travelling around the country for two years she returned to Europe and pursued a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism in London. But the longing for Australia and the sun became too strong. After having worked for some time in the media industry, Mimmie decided to make a change and swap the news for conferences. She now gets to do what she loves the most, meeting new people and keep learning about cultures and issues while producing conferences on current topics.

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Social media - the Harvard way

What’s it like running the social media channels of one of the world’s top Ivy League universities?

Robert Bochnak, Director of Social Media- Office of Alumni Relations, Harvard Business School, will tell you it’s a lot of fun- and a lot of work.

With Facebook likers totalling almost half a million, over 300k followers on Twitter and almost 70k followers on Instagram, it’s vital Robert has the right practices in place to ensure their social media presence is sustained and continues to grow.

So what are Robert’s favourite tools of the trade?

1.       Storify

“From the outset, the main objective of my social media work has been to engender as much alumni engagement as possible. This goal can be met through Twitter alone, but Storify opens up additional outreach opportunities. For example, once I publish a Storify I can send the link to classmates of alumni quoted in the story.”

2.       TweetDeck

“During a typical month, I’ll curate 2-3 chats on a particular business-or career-related topic via Twitter. These conversations usually last a few days and commence with a leading statement I want alumni to complete (“Leadership is…”) or a question I’d like them to answer (“Which HBS Professor had the greatest impact on you and why?”). In the hours leading up to the chats, I identify the alumni I would like to target–this can be based on everything from business interests to when they graduated–and then, using TweetDeck, I schedule tweets to these individuals.”

3.       Spredfast

“When I looked deeper into Spredfast and its functionality I found some very useful applications, one of which is its ability to provide excellent analytics. This is vitally important to my work since one of my mandates is to drive traffic to our alumni website. With these reports–which provide everything from clickthrough numbers to engagement stats–I’m able to provide yet another means to justify the impact and importance of our social media efforts.”

Robert is the international keynote at our Social Media in Higher Education coming to Sydney, May 3-5, 2017. 

Written by: Claire Dowler

Claire Dowler is a Conference Producer with Akolade. She recently graduated with a double degree: a Bachelor of Journalism and a Bachelor of Media and Communications Studies majoring in International Communication. Claire minored in sarcasm and puns.

A ballroom-dancer who collects salt and pepper shakers and volunteers for animal rescue, you might say Claire has eclectic interests.

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Forget cars, the future is online: Amazon to create more than 100,000 new jobs

While Donald Trump founded most of his election success on sweet-talking the US rust-belt states, it looks like online retail may one day be providing more jobs than the car industry.

Already one of the country’s biggest employers, Amazon plans to grow its full-time US-based workforce from 180,000 in 2016 to over 280,000 by mid-2018.

It’s taken Amazon just five years to create over 150,000 jobs in the United States, growing its workforce there from 30,000 employees in 2011 to over 180,000 at the end of 2016. Now the company announced that it plans to create an additional 100,000 full-time, full-benefit jobs in the US over the next 18 months. 

These new job opportunities are said to be for people all across the country and with all types of experience, education and skill levels, from engineers and software developers to those seeking entry-level positions and on-the-job training. Many of the roles will be in new distribution centres that have been announced over the past several months and are currently under construction in Texas, California, Florida, New Jersey and many other states across the country.

In addition to direct job creation, Amazon businesses like Marketplace and Amazon Flex will continue to create hundreds of thousands of jobs for people across the US who want to start their own business.

“Innovation is one of our guiding principles at Amazon, and it’s created hundreds of thousands of American jobs. These jobs are not just in our Seattle headquarters or in Silicon Valley – they’re in our customer service network, DC and other facilities in local communities throughout the country,” said Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO. 

“We plan to add another 100,000 new Amazonians across the company over the next 18 months as we open new fulfilment centres, and continue to invent in areas like cloud technology, machine learning, and advanced logistics.”

Over 9,000 employees have now participated in Amazon’s “Career Choice” program that pre-pays 95% of tuition for degrees in high-demand occupations such as aircraft mechanics, computer-aided design, machine tool technologies, medical lab technologies, nursing, and many other fields.

Over 10,000 military veterans already work at Amazon and last year the company pledged to hire and train an additional 25,000 veterans and military spouses over the next five years.

Writen by: Nicolas Verbeeck

Nicolas was born in Belgium and became an expert in consuming excellent beers, chocolate and waffles. During the winter period you can find him on a hockey pitch and in summer he loves to go for a swim or a surf. In 2013 Nicolas was wondering what the beers, chocolate and waffles would taste like in Australia and never came back. One reason… the weather. Nicolas obtained a masters in International Politics and tries to use this background to produce excellent conferences at Akolade.

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Fancy a salary over half a million?

The newly appointed CEO of the Australian Digital Health Agency, Tim Kelsey, will receive a $522,000 annual salary in his role taking on the troubled My Health Record System.

Around 4.4 million Australians have signed up for the system, despite teething problems.

To address the issues, ADHA last week completed their three month public consultation on the new National Digital Health Strategy to be released later this year.

The importance of supporting and involving carers through the transition was stressed by ADHA CEO, Mr Tim Kelsey.

“One of the most important things I am hoping to develop in this strategy is some meaningful ways to use digital technology to enable and empower carers so they are able to work, care and access digital services at no cost,” Mr Kelsey said.

The government is supporting the transition to digital healthcare, with the Queensland Government injecting $1.26 billion over 20 years to overhauling the health sector’s ICT strategy and the NSW Government last year allocated $400 million to support advances in technology in our hospitals.

The importance of engaging with clinicians has been stressed from eHealth NSW’s inception with the agency then saying the system was “developed by clinicians for clinicians”.

Just one of the benefits the strategy will offer consumers is the Electronic Medical Record (EMR) which will put an end to filling out forms on each medical visit. Your GP, specialists and clinician will be able to access your medical history quickly and easily, meaning shorter wait times, easy referrals and more comprehensive care.

Written by: Claire Dowler

Claire Dowler is a Conference Producer with Akolade. She recently graduated with a double degree: a Bachelor of Journalism and a Bachelor of Media and Communications Studies majoring in International Communication. Claire minored in sarcasm and puns.

A ballroom-dancer who collects salt and pepper shakers and volunteers for animal rescue, you might say Claire has eclectic interests.

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Don’t blame disengagement on the student

The job of teachers is one of the most important jobs out there, yet it is often one that’s overlooked, underpaid and understaffed.

Not ensuring students the best education has massive consequences, not only for the student, but for a nation as a whole.

I know firsthand the importance of having good teachers. I know what difference they make not only to your learning, but also to your self-esteem. They have the power to help build and create the person you will be for the rest of your life. Whilst having a great teacher will set you off to a great start in life, having a bad teacher can damaging for the rest of your life.

It is the teacher’s responsibility to engage all students in the daily learning activities and to encourage all students that they have the capacity to achieve great things. It’s by no means an easy task, but a vitally important one, one that requires skills that few have.

According to a recent report by Grattan ­Institute, Engaging Students: Creating Classrooms that Improve Learning, disengagement in the classroom has a profound effect on the whole classroom environment and the overall learning of all students, the Australian reports.

“It’s [disengagement] certainly reducing academic results. If more students were more engaged, they would be learning more and our results overall would increase and we should aim to do that,’’ Grattan’s school education program director, Peter Goss, told the Australian.

During my first years of school, yes, the ones when everyone is really excited and hungry to learn, I was not. I became at a very early age one of those disengaged students, much to my lack of self-esteem and my teacher’s inability to give praise. However, I noticed a drastic change when changing teacher to one who told me that I was smart and encouraged me to do even better. Both my parents and I were in shock. I thought there was no future for me and I was already doomed to be a dumb looser.  

Motivated by my teacher’s praise, I became one of the biggest swots in the class, and my grades improved massively. Not only did my grades improve, but so did my self-esteem.

Despite the importance of being able to engage students, it appears to be a skill many teachers lack. The Grattan report found that many graduate teachers aren’t properly trained for the challenges in the classroom.

The report found that “only half of new graduates say their initial teaching training course helped in “managing classroom activities to keep students on task’’ and only one-third felt their course had assisted them in “dealing with difficult student behaviour’’. Just one in three principals believe new teachers are well prepared for managing classrooms,” the Australian reported.

As a result, there are calls for better training of future teachers, for teachers to be able to respond to the needs of all students.

From someone who had the both of two worlds; the damages my first teacher made to my self-esteem is something that I’ve constantly had to work with and an issue that’s hard to get rid of. But the positives my other teacher brought helped me get back on track and become the person I always could be.

Written by: Mimmie Wilhelmson

Mimmie grew up in Sweden and first came to Australia as a backpacker after high school. After travelling around the country for two years she returned to Europe and pursued a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism in London. But the longing for Australia and the sun became too strong. After having worked for some time in the media industry, Mimmie decided to make a change and swap the news for conferences. She now gets to do what she loves the most, meeting new people and keep learning about cultures and issues while producing conferences on current topics.

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Developing effective security plans for UEFA Euro 2016 right after the Paris bombings

Head of Safety and Security UEFA EURO 2016 FRANCE Speaking at the Public Venue Security and Safety Summit in Sydney

The Stade de France stadium in Saint-Denis, where a friendly match was played between France and Germany, was one of the terrorist targets during the Paris bombings that left 130 dead and hundreds wounded in and around Paris. Months later France was also the host for UEFA EURO 2016 tournament that took place in several French cities.

Ziad Khoury who was the Head of Safety and Security at UEFA EURO 2016 France was in charge of developing effective security plans to prepare for the unknown. On average 900 specially trained stewards with about 80 health and safety personnel as well 200 volunteers worked in conjunction with the police force for each match. Ziad stated: “When it comes to security, it's not about numbers of people. It's about the quality and coordination.”

Other concerns were the "fan zones" that were set up all over the country, so that people could watch the games on big screens outdoors. An estimated eight million people travelled to France for the tournament, but only 2.5 million had tickets for the games. The fan zones were guarded around the clock and under CCTV surveillance. Police was present around the perimeter of 130.000 square meter and 400 private security guards posted inside. Those entering had to pass through strict security checks, involving patdowns, metal detectors and sniffer dogs.

French security forces were also trained in preparation for the possibility of drones being used to spread chemical agents over crowded areas. French police conducted a practice drill in Saint-Etienne, one of the Euro 2016 locations. Khoury stated: “when preparing for an event of this size, you must imagine all scenarios, even the most unlikely.”

Ziad Khoury will share his insights into the security preparations during the months before the tournament during an opening keynote presentation at the Public Venue Security and Safety Summit, being held at Radisson Blu Sydney on 28th – 30th March 2017. He will offer his insights into how the UEFA EURO 2016 organisation prepared a major security plan to provide safety for all those participating at the EURO 2016 in stadiums, fan zones and all other official sites. Mr Khoury will also discuss the necessary cooperation and communication levels needed between all stakeholders and what the results and lessons learned were at the biggest security effort for the public sector ever in France.

Written by: Nicolas Verbeeck

Nicolas was born in Belgium and became an expert in consuming excellent beers, chocolate and waffles. During the winter period you can find him on a hockey pitch and in summer he loves to go for a swim or a surf. In 2013 Nicolas was wondering what the beers, chocolate and waffles would taste like in Australia and never came back. One reason… the weather. Nicolas obtained a masters in International Politics and tries to use this background to produce excellent conferences at Akolade.

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