SIMON Lodge says securing the position of western region advertising manager at Bunnings was a matter of good timing.
SIMON Lodge says securing the position of western region advertising manager at Bunnings was a matter of good timing.
Returning to Perth after four years working as account director in Sydney for retail advertising agency Ideaworks Advertising, Mr Lodge was looking for a fresh start.
And as luck would have it, a job managing the advertising of Western Australia’s biggest accounts came up, although not quite on cue.
“I was working for Ideaworks and worked on the Barbecue’s Galore account, Wonderland Sydney, Daewoo, and Polaroid. It was good fun but I decided to return to Perth,” he said.
“I spent six months travelling around Australia and came back [to Perth]. I saw a recruitment person recommended to me and they thought I would be perfect for Bunnings. But they came back and said there were no jobs.”
But when previous advertising manager Lisa O’Keefe decided to resign and spend time with her new baby, Mr Lodge was provided with the opportunity he needed.
“I look after WA, South Australia and the Northern Territory,” he said. “We have two marketing departments on the east coast and the west coast, and they are mirrored.”
Mr Lodge, who has been with Bunnings for about six weeks, works closely with the company’s advertising agency, The Brand Agency, something he finds refreshing.
“Bunnings has a great relationship with The Brand Agency as far as I’m aware. They’ve been our agency for about 15 years,” he said.
“Coming from an advertising agency background it has been great to see a relationship, which is more about a team approach. I don’t think that’s done enough in agency land because they fall into the trap of ‘them and us’, even though you are both working to put together the best strategy.
“The Brand set up an office in Melbourne and they have replicated our approach here [the marketing department] over there, and they have mirrored our structure so that there is always someone you can talk to. It’s open communication.”
Mr Lodge joins Bunnings after the introduction of some subtle changes to the business’s advertising campaign.
“We’ve got some more red panelling in the press and TV ads. It’s a slight shift that creates more awareness for the products. We’ve introduced a third of the TV screen ad to give it more colour,” Mr Lodge said.
There’ll be no shift for the tried and true line-drawing formula for the time being, he said.
