Action communications credentials

CREATIVE. PRODUCTIVE. EFFECTIVE.

CREDENTIALS

What actions do you look for in a communications partner?

A team with aptitude and insight? People who are proactive and creative? Who actually come up with the big ideas that can make all the difference to your business? Someone who can get inside your head, tease out your thoughts and express them in the most eloquent and influential way possible? An advisor who is brave enough, cares enough, knows enough to tell you what you don’t know? Partners who simply make business more enjoyable because of their attitude and their actions? Have you met Action Communications?

Whatever you think you can do or believe you can do, begin it. Action has magic, grace and power in it. 2 Johann Goethe  

Actions deliver results Action Communications is a dynamic consultancy offering services in:

!   branding ! marketing and communications ! public relations ! digital media ! sales promotions ! specialist writing ! event and project management ! organisational and personal development

Founded in 1998, and launching in Australia in 2012, we are accomplished professionals who have worked with some of the world’s most admired brands. We are known for taking the right action and achieving the right results. What do we look for in a partner? Industry leaders and emerging stars chasing ambitious goals, high standards and powerful brands – while at the same time truly appreciating their people, the environment and their communities. People who value great communication and bold actions.

Never confuse motion with action. 3 Benjamin Franklin  

Creative Actions In any communication or campaign your goals have to be exact, your USP unequivocal. You need the Big Idea. If it doesn’t sell, it’s not creative, claims David Ogilvy. He knows. Creativity beats frequency hands down every time. Creativity is the hallmark of what we do at Action Communications. Creativity comes from being right on brief. For all involved, it’s exciting, memorable and above all creates the desired effect. People pause, eagerly take everything in, file it in the ‘remember this’ folder in their minds, instantly share with others, then revisit and make a decision. In those few moments you have it: attention, exposure, recognition, engagement and results. Be it a simple letter or a transformative personal development program – it is the element that can make all the difference in the world. At Action Communications our diverse experience means we can offer organisations dynamic and inspired solutions that bridge marketing and human resources, having a significant impact on the business.

Don’t bunt. Aim out of the ball park. Aim for the company of immortals. 4 David Ogilvy  

1  

Productive Actions We offer the full suite of marketing communication services and transformative personal development solutions.

Branding • Branding – foundations, values, positioning, names, design and

identity • Packaging Marketing • Marketing strategy and advice • Research and analysis • Marketing planning, budgeting and implementation – annual,

project, new business launch / go-to-market • Direct marketing • Outsourced marketing management – we can be your

marketing department and manage other agencies e.g. advertising, digital, PR, research, media planners etc.

Public Relations • Public Relations strategy and counsel • Media launches, media liaison, media kits/releases/pitches,

feature articles, case studies, opinion pieces, profiles and backgrounders

• Crisis management and media training • Social media Digital • Digital strategy • Web and social media strategy for Linked-In, Facebook, Twitter,

YouTube • Digital and web copy and concepts, inclusive of SEO • E-marketing

Sales Campaigns • Marketing offers and special sales promotions Writing & Communication • Annual reports, IPOs and corporate profiles • B2B and B2C communications • Internal communications • Business letters and proposals • Speeches • Newsletters, brochures and award entries • Advertising copy • Other marketing collateral Event & Project Management • Event and special project management • Sponsorship management • Coordination of advertising, design, print and photography • Special film and multimedia projects including script

development, direction and production Organisational & Personal Development • Strategy and communication of major organisational change

initiatives such as gender diversity, mergers, strategic redirection, engagement, and morale building and cultural enhancement

• Leadership and team development • Cultural empowerment • Facilitation • Personal development workshops

The path to success is to take massive, determined action. 5 Anthony Robbins  

1  

Active People

Sherryl Caulfield has over twenty-five year’s experience working for leading brands on the agency and client side. Her career has spanned three major sectors: Technology, Outdoors, and Organisational and Personal Development. Her first major consultancy position saw her working with Dr Jim Macnmara author of The Australian Marketing Handbook. Later, she joined Lotus Development – then the second largest software company in the world – as Marketing Communications Manager for Australia and New Zealand. During her tenure Sherryl was recognised as providing the best PR service to the Australian IT industry. She also introduced their first roadblock advertising campaign that reached 10% of the Australian population and saw brand awareness scale record highs. After being retained by IBM as a key member of its e-business team, Sherryl launched Action Communications working with clients in Australia, New Zealand, Asia and the US. The impressive results she achieved for clients include magazine covers, extensive television exposure, memorable motivational events, and sizeable new business leads and conversion due to her exceptional B2B writing skills. Sherryl has a Bachelor of Business, Communication from QUT.

Anita Beasley has had a career spanning twenty years in Australia and the UK working for start-ups to global corporations and major government enterprises. She is a specialist in building brands, marketing businesses, driving sales and developing relationships.

At twenty-one, Anita helped launch Colorado, one of Australia’s leading fashion labels. Two years later she was appointed National Marketing Manager. She has worked for Japan’s largest wedding company, one of the leading global entertainment companies, headquartered in Los Angeles, and the world’s largest athletic retailer. Along the way she has hit sales and brand awareness targets through above- and below-the-line advertising, marketing, merchandising and instore-promotions. From 2006 to 2008 she headed up the Red Agency in Brisbane responsible for a team of PR consultants and a

range of international, national and state-based clients. These included Parrot, Big W Vision, The Haines Group, IPAA (Qld), Fairfax Digital, David Reid Homes and Metropolitan South Institute of TAFE (MSIT), helping the latter win the National Australian Marketing Institute Award in 2008 for their Small Business Solutions project. Thereafter she joined emberin, Australia’s most successful gender diversity company. In her role, Anita consulted to many of Australia’s Top 100 companies and built a significant web portal for working women – www.womensvillage.com. Anita has a BA with a double major in journalism and a Graduate Diploma in Communications, majoring in Advertising.

Enthusiasm – the sustaining power of all action. 6 Samuel Smiles

1  

Mark Squires is one of Australia’s most seasoned event managers having worked in the corporate presentation, theatre and entertainment industries in Europe and Asia Pacific for over twenty years. He was a partner in Connections Event Management for over a decade, responsible for launching Compaq Computers and Adobe in Australia, incentive conferences in Maui and Bali and calling a fireworks display over Sydney Harbour, amongst many other high-profile assignments. His passion for adventure and its role in personal transformation led him to study at the Sir Edmund Hillary Outdoor Pursuit Centre and work for over a decade with Outward Bound, the world’s leading experiential learning organisation. In New Zealand he led Outward Bound’s business and custom-design programs. His management skills were recognised when Outward Bound was selected as the best place for people to work in New Zealand by Unlimited magazine – the equivalent to Australia’s BRW magazine. He is still a member of Outward Bound Australia’s external safety committee.

He is valued for his calm leadership, creativity and execution skills. He has a certificate in Life Coaching and is a qualified Practitioner of Neuro Linguistic Programming. As well as his role at Action Communications, Mark is a project manager with Outdoors Queensland and runs a coaching business called Choiceworks – because of his firm belief that in every situation we have choices and life is about making those choices work for you.

Action Partners Action Communications works with trusted partners, who are experts in their field, to deliver strategic, quality, integrated and seamless communication services. We take action on your behalf to source, liaise and manage the work from concept to final delivery. We can work with your existing agencies or we can handle the entire project using people whose track record is paramount. Our partners include: • Market Research - Footprints

• Branding/Design – DesignbyLook, Baseline Shift, FC Creative

• Photography – Lucid Photography, Robert Shakespeare

• Advertising/Creative – Basis, BCM, The Engine Group,

Decoder

• Web/SEO & Apps – Geekware, Clarimont Consulting

• Media Planning – OMD

• Digital Planning – Traffika, Bluewire

• Social Media Strategy – Socially Sorted

An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea. 7 Edward de Bono

  Active Fans Our solid experience comes from working with the following leading brands:  

1  

Branding Action Iconic Australian outdoor retailer, Mountain Designs, had a solid heritage in the mountains yet wanted to appeal to a much broader range of adventurer.

Anita created a new sub-brand called Pro-Elite for the extreme alpinist, as well as new logos and an integrated corporate/brand/retail image that was promoted via several company-first initiatives: new

website front end, new direct marketing newsletter, new in-store point of sale program, visual merchandising and the first Australia- and New Zealand-wide retail catalogue letterbox drop. She backed the sponsorship of an adventure racing team to highlight their broader market offerings and promoted the sponsorship through public relations, managed by Sherryl. Team Mountain Designs included Guy Andrews, then 31, three-times Australian surf ironman champion, and an experienced interviewee. The publicity campaign for this sponsorship and race involvement (The Mild Seven Outdoor Quest in China) resulted in the news item being picked up by newswires, national newspapers, radio and TV, resulting in brand awareness reaching record highs. “We are getting calls left right and centre. I never got this much publicity when I was the National Ironman Champion.” Guy Andrews, Professional Athlete

Japan's biggest wedding company, Watabe, provides destination and themed weddings for Japanese couples in exotic locations such as Honolulu, Paris, Florence, the Scottish Highlands, Queenstown, the Gold Coast and Bali. In a global role, Anita created the concept and spearheaded the development of a new business venture for the organisation – Blush Weddings – to appeal to a Western market, and to substantially grow the company’s business and ROI from their property investments. Blush Weddings was the company's foray into the US market with operations based out of Los Angeles and Hawaii. As project leader, Anita wrote the business plan and created all budgets. Working with a leading branding agency she researched and developed a name and branding, following market research (quantitative and qualitative) in Australia and the US. The branding creation involved rationale and positioning, logo, corporate identity, website concepts, advertising, retail store concepts and packaging. The Blush Weddings project was one of the most exciting and comprehensive branding campaigns any designer could hope to work on. Anita's entrepreneurial spirit, and her marketing nous and rigour enabled us to create a dynamic concept to launch this new international business. She is a joy to work with and someone I admire immensely.

Bob Rodger, Managing Director, RHA

Everybody wants a piece of the action. Everybody needs a main attraction. 9 Sweet

1  

Marketing Action Foot Locker is the world’s largest athletic retailer. Anita was responsible for launching Foot Locker Australia’s first internet site, their first direct marketing program and their first all women’s catalogue. By conceiving a unique sales promotion that gave GST back to the customers through a return discount offer, she turned the introduction of GST into a $400 K sales success for the company. A Coca-Cola on pack promotion resulted in $650k in sales. Through end of year catalogues she drove record sales budget weeks, achieving record sales for two consecutive years and winning four Cream Ad Awards. Anita has been a senior marketer for several high profile organisations. Highly strategic, she understood the importance of research, brand, integration, creativity, reach and achieving ROI. She managed her budgets well, gave insightful briefs which allowed for creativity and impact but essentially let us get on with our job – to create meaningful campaigns that not only won awards but delivered results – be they attitudinal shift or money in the till. Alan Kewley, Group Account Director, BCM Anita was integral to the marketing success of Queensland's road safety communications and the youngest person to be appointed to the Queensland Transport Board, She handled several road safety summits, road safety stands at the Queensland Motor Show (winning stand of the show), anti-drink driving campaigns, pedestrian and bike helmet safety campaigns as well as air care campaigns. These involved large budgets, market research, media launches with government ministers and integrated advertising.

"Many of the Division's key stakeholders have noted the excellence of our recent activities, particularly the 1998 Road Safety Summit and the Queensland Transport display at the 1998 Motor Show. As the main organiser of these events, you should be congratulated on your expertise and efforts. I am very appreciative of your work and I look forward to witnessing more of your triumphs in future." Paul Blake, Executive Director, Queensland Transport Sherryl was the Australian and New Zealand Marketing Communications Manager for Lotus Development – one of the top two global software companies – responsible for a $4million budget and a $4 million upgrade target. Her responsibilities included public relations, advertising, research, events, sponsorship, marcoms, and channel, web and staff communication. Working as part of a highly-motivated, high-performing team, the company grew four-fold in six years. Sherryl is a major part of the ANZ Marketing team. Without her commitment, dedication, drive and determination, many of the projects we completed would have been dropped or delayed. She understands the need for creativity to differentiate ourselves in all forms of communication and is a high contributor of creative ideas. Sherryl is a high achiever and a real pleasure to work with. Mike Clarke, APAC Marketing Director, Lotus Development

Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world. 10 Albert Einstein  

1  

PR Action Securing the front cover position for Toshiba in New Zealand’s largest business magazine (70,000 circulation) while US President Bill Clinton and world leaders were visiting for the APEC summit gave this technology leader rare, centre-stage, business prominence. “Sherryl has been a delight to work with…an engaging and knowledgeable PR professional who understood news angles, media requirements and how to brief a photographer to produce great images. The media events she orchestrated were done with verve and flair even down to her ingenious invitations.” Ena Hutchinson Editor of NZ Business

A Rediscover Outward Bound competition promoted via cereal packaging and a media invitational and launch week-end saw Outward Bound gain extensive media exposure including two rounds of television coverage to grow its database, celebrate its 40th anniversary and launch a $10 million endowment foundation with fanfare. “Sherryl’s event management, public relations, marketing and organisational skills gave life to the project and achieved all its objectives. She conceived the idea of the Rediscover competition and through that students have rekindled their ties with the Trust and are now fulfilling an important ambassadorial role. She proved herself to be very hardworking and creative, had good attention to detail but still kept her eye on the big picture and was mindful of budget management. The event was professional and special, a fitting tribute to our patron and we were thrilled with all the coverage. Sherryl is a person I can trust and rely on. I would happily recommend her to others.” Trevor Taylor CEO, Outward Bound New Zealand

Your actions, and your actions alone, determine your worth. 11 Evelyn Waugh

1  

Digital Action In 2010, when women’s empowerment advocate, Maureen Frank, wanted to create a whole-of-life offering for the working women of Australia, Anita created womensvillage.com – an entertaining, informative and personal development web portal that attracted over 2,000 subscribers within its first month. In her General Manager role, Anita not only managed the strategic overarching vision for the site, she orchestrated a team of expert contributors, a range of offerings to help simplify the lives of busy women, wrote two e-books and

managed the complex editorial and technological requirements with a team of agencies, collecting industry accolades along the way.

I’ve always enjoyed Anita's creativity, enthusiasm, and positive energy when working on projects with her.

There are a lot of good thinkers out there, but you need interesting and relevant ideas to truly rise above the crowd. Anita's management, agency and client background serve to give her this advantage. I would recommend Anita to any organisation.”

Phillip Kozis, Senior Group Director, Digital Pop

Leading UK family owned brewery, Theakston, worked with Anita and her WPA Pinfold design team on branding and marketing covering digital, packaging, advertising and point of sale promotions for their Visitor Centre in Yorkshire. For their website Anita project managed the build inclusive of budget, timelines and coordinating all content. She worked with the designer on site map articulation, design concepts, photography selection and eventual site creation. Anita also wrote the website copy. As Account Director Anita ensured the client was informed throughout the process, worked with them on their changes and needs, and ensured they were happy with the end result. As part of the project Anita thoroughly researched the brewery and did an Introduction to Ales course to help her understand the client’s USP and differentiation to other UK family-owned breweries. Anita worked for us in the UK and was instrumental in pulling together the brand strategies for some of our key clients in the brewing and service sectors. She has drive and energy and is very focussed on delivering results – just what every successful business needs. Her passion is balanced with a good strategic brain and excellent people skills. Myles Pinfold, Managing Director, WPA Pinfold

Action is character. 12 F. Scott Fitzgerald

1  

Sales Action Whilst working for Hanna-Barbera Anita conceived a sales juggernaut by re-launching 70s cult classic, The Banana Splits, as a video promotion. To make the video a success Anita created unique value-adds with each of Australia's key retailers including iron-on transfer, bumper sticker, cd single of the theme tune and wall poster. The video achieved gold sales. I loved working with Anita even though I was based in Los Angeles and she was in Sydney. She was proactive, detail-oriented and fantastic at managing relationships with clients, suppliers, colleagues and her peers. Most of all, Anita was incredibly creative and came up with numerous marketing concepts which literally wowed me every time. Her ideas and ability to translate them into winning sales promotions were a true asset to us. Midge Barnett Vice President, Distribution, Turner Pictures Worldwide

Avica Weddings and Resort on the Gold Coast is a division of Watabe Wedding Corporation Japan’s leading wedding company with operations in over 20 countries worldwide. By applying her sales and marketing expertise Anita increased sales by over 100% in her first year and by 900% in her second year. Key to her success was the establishment of promotional wedding packages, the introduction of wedding planning services, an integrated marketing campaign for the resort and the creation of a full-service spa facility based on best-of-breed Spa resorts in Bali and Hawaii. Anita is one of the most savvy business people I ever had the pleasure to work with on marketing and branding campaigns. She is a highly creative, strategic thinker and will quickly immerse herself into the project to understand the objectives and how to achieve them. She is results-driven and always exceeded expectations in a very efficient manner. Not only that, Anita approaches every project with enthusiasm and a positive attitude, which meant I really enjoyed working with her! Kimberly Healy International Marketing Manager, Watabe U.S.A. Inc

Talk doesn’t cook rice. 13 Chinese proverb.

1  

Transformative Action The three-week Aoraki Bound cultural revitalisation program that Mark developed for Ngai Tahu, the largest Maori iwi (tribe) in New Zealand’s South Island, has been running for six years, playing a significant role in building leadership, cultural awareness and personal development for Ngai Tahu as individuals and the sustainability of the Ngāi Tahu iwi as a collective. The program combines Outward Bound philosophy with a journey (hīkoi) along Maori pathways and immersion in activities important to Ngāi Tahu traditional way of life. “Indigenous populations often lack self-esteem, confidence and motivation, and feel they are inferior. Ngāi Tahu were also concerned about their heritage surviving in a world that is becoming more global, homogenised and populated. Enduring outcomes for the participants have included increased levels of confidence and responsibility, greater contribution at work, more participation in their lives, role modelling for their children and a sense of camaraderie and community. Mark’s commitment to understanding and honouring Maori heritage, his ability to conceptualise a program to meet multiple over-arching objectives and his ability to draw on proven leaning concepts to develop a unique and empowering experience, were integral to the program’s success.” Patsy Bass Project Manager, Te Runanga O Ngāi Tahu

The my mentor multimedia gender diversity mentoring and leadership programs, which Sherryl and Anita developed in concert with emberin CEO, Maureen Frank, have been undertaken by over 10,000 women and 2,000 men across Australia with profound personal and organisational impacts. Deployed by Telstra, the programs were instrumental in the telco in 2010 being the only Australian company to ever win a Catalyst award by the peak global body promoting advancement of women in business, cementing Maureen Frank’s reputation as the leading gender diversity expert in Australia. “I have reviewed all the modules and I have to say – I know it’s not finished product – but you have really done a brilliant job!!! Well done!!’ Maureen Frank CEO, Emberin

If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, 14 rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea. Antoine De Saint Exupery

1  

Communications Action Being a not-for-profit organisation Outward Bound needed a dual purpose Annual Report that was true to its heritage, conveying the benefits of the organisation, while supporting fundraising efforts for their Foundation’s $10 million target. The resulting report used iconic images and personal stories to appeal to the emotional legacy of Outward Bound. At the same time it promoted the organisation as forward looking by using the report to announce a two-year academia-led research initiative to measure how effectively Outward Bound courses contribute to changing each participant’s life.

“Sherryl managed the production of our 2004 and 2005 annual reports. They were right on brief, details both internally and externally were managed extremely effectively and the publications received great feedback. We were very happy with her results.” Trevor Taylor CEO, The Outward Bound Trust of New Zealand

Improving gender equality is fast becoming a top-five business priority for most Australian organisations. It is a complex transformation that has profound moral, social, business and personal impacts on men and women. Communication is integral to every organisation’s cultural change journey. It has to cut through and connect with the hearts and minds of the people involved. This requires expert analysis and interpretation, audience profiling and trigger identification before a single word is written. Strategy, medium and finesse all play their part. Anita and Sherryl are two of Australia’s leading communication experts in this area. “I normally just delete newsletters but yours was really, really, high quality. Great stuff, thank you.” Emily Ross Fairfax journalist

“This is the best coverage of modern feminism that I have seen. It’s just brilliant.” Dale Spender Academic

There are two things worth living for: to do what is worthy of being written and to write what is worthy of being read. 15 Ross Perot

1  

Event and Project Action Mark was instrumental in designing and stage-managing a recognition and incentive event in Hawaii for 2,000 MLC high achievers and their partners from across Australia and New Zealand. This high level event involved sourcing elements from around the world to deliver a conference that wowed the audience and reflected the theme “Into the future.” Local children’s choirs welcomed delegates, a Canadian model flying saucer filled with helium hovered above attendees in the main hall, and motivational speaker, Amanda Gore, entertained delegates on stress management and making work fun. The event culminated in a lavish awards ceremony. “Core to us winning this assignment was our reputation for delivering highly creative, original, and professional productions and Mark’s experience in having worked internationally in Europe, the West Indies and Asia. Mark has undertaken the production of massive events and always does so with the same level of attention to detail, making each show the best it can possibly be.” Amanda Hampson, Co-Director, Connections Event Management

Lotus had a reputation within the I.T. sector for delivering the best events in the industry. After acquiring Lotus, IBM leveraged this strength to show organisations how to maximise their business through e-business. Leading a team of agencies and stakeholders, Sherryl crafted the invitations, presentations, hand-outs and exhibition that saw this message delivered to over 5,000 people across nine cities in Australia and New Zealand in one month. Mark managed the set design, staging, lighting and touring production. As a result IBM became known as the e-business company. Event management is one of Sherryl’s strengths. At Lotus she organised several large exhibition stands for various tradeshows, a number of multi-city, multi-day roadshow seminars, as well as many large 2-3 day, multi-stream conferences, involving over 50 speakers and several international VIPs, attended by hundreds, sometimes thousands of people. Sherryl is capable of managing the full event spectrum. She is always highly organised, creative and professional, and can always be relied upon to deliver a first-class event.’ Kim Medway Marketing Director, Lotus Development

He was a man of action whose adventurous spirit led him to experience more, see more, do more. 16 Tadahiro Lee

1  

Are you ready for action? Our process is straightforward.

Upon appointment, before doing any work, we ask questions. The extent of this research depends on the value of the job, the duration of our appointment and the prioritisation of your needs. The most impressive results, however, have always been delivered when strategy and communication are based on sound situational analysis and interpretation. Often the findings are revealing to all. Our research can cover: • You • Your business / organisation • Your organisation’s history • Your staff structure and engagement • Your products and services • Your competition • Your suppliers • Your channel • Your customers • Your opportunities • Your challenges • Your media relations • And the market/industry in which you operate.

We listen to your needs but we also question you. We map out a plan. We set an agreement on how we work together. We get on with the job. We show initiative. We ask for feedback.

We know how to get into the mindset of clients, customers, prospects, shareholders, staff, the channel and the media. We understand how to deliver targeted communications to different channels that get results: • Impact and awareness • Sales and ROI • Culture change • Staff engagement • Brand equity

Our USP We are senior practitioners who have worked predominantly at national level and run our own marketing, PR and event businesses. As our client, you get seasoned professionals working on your business – for way less than what you would pay at other agencies or consultancies. We have very strong in-demand skills in strategic concepts, big idea creation, writing, and leadership and personal development. This translates to a value for money service that delivers strategy, experienced know-how and efficiency. What makes us UNIQUE is we are family – we work well together and are experienced at working together. We have strong family values and a strong bond.

When I was kidnapped, my parents snapped into action. They rented out my room. 17 Woody Allen

ACTION COMMUNICATIONS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD PO BOX 654 COORPAROO QLD 4151

WWW.ACTIONCOMMUNICATIONS.COM.AU [email protected] PH 0450 410 351 OR 0434 485 520