After an incredible 3 (which turned into 6) months helping to get &some up and running I am now on the look out for my next adventure. I had the pleasure on working with the team to define and establish the brand, get a few awesome projects under our belt, as well as providing a dash of hype (including a piece on TV3′s Nightline in which I embraced my inner computer geek talking about the Kinect hacking we were up to).
So now I am officially on the look out for a new way for me to fill my time, preferably in an in interesting and meaningful way. Do you have something in mind? Know someone looking for a kick ass digital & brand strategist? I would love to hear from you – duncan at version3 dot co dot nz.
In the mean time I am really enjoying having some time to sample a plethora of Auckland beaches while the temperature allows, get properly fit again, and devote countless hours to spec’ing out my new dream mountain bike. Maybe I’ll even figure out what this blog is supposed to be about.
After nearly six amazing years here at Orcon I am off on a new adventure come the end of September. I am off to join Maya, Trent & Steve at the super awesome &some.
I started at Orcon right out of university as the marketing assistant, effectively establishing the marketing team here. It was an amazing oppourtunity and one that I will always be incredible thankful to Seeby Woodhouse for. In the six years since then Orcon has been through some massive change, growing from about 20 staff to almost 200, being acquired by Kordia, and increasing revenue several-fold. In that time I have been through 4 different roles and have had the chance to be involved with and run some incredible projects, and work with some really talented people, particularly in the last 2 years.
A few of the brightest highlights have been:
- Developing and implementing a brand strategy that has seen Orcon establish a defensible niche within the New Zealand telecommunications market
- New Zealand & Iggy Pop, Together Incredible: Working with the godfather of punk himself on what seemed to a lot of people like a crazy project, pulling it off in style and taking home a shed load of metal (a record 9 Axis awards including New Zealand’s most creative business, and of course our Caanes Grand Prix) and even getting a mention in Vanity Fair
- The PurpleSpheres project: 8 Kiwi & Australian digital artists (and various special guests) put in a house for a week with a brief to create cool shit. I was lucky enough to tag along for the ride.
- Being invited to some incredible events and having some fantastic conversations with some of the coolest and smartest people in NZ
- Building a great base of passionate Orcon fans
- Working with some super talented people
I have been doing a little bit of reminiscing, looking back through old photos and projects. Things sure have changed from these early days:
There are a few people that I would like to really thank for helping me out, teaching me a huge amount, making my life easier, and just generally making the last six years awesome. Can’t give these guys big enough ups:
- A couple of great bosses that I had over the years: Larrie Moore & David Joyce, who both taught me a lot (probably more than each of them realise)
- Charlotte Speed, Taryn Hamilton & the rest of the marketing team that have been so great to work with over the last couple of years
- Michael Redwood & the crew at Special Group
- Quentin Reade & the crew at Pead PR
- Neil Gaught who is now off in London at Gaught Conlon
- And of course Scott Bartlett for believing in me and backing me in my role.
There are a whole lot of other people who have contributed in varied and important ways, but I don’t want this post to go on forever, I will save that for my boozy leaving speech.
It is going to be tough to say goodbye to something that I have invested so much of myself in, but at the same time I am really really excited about what I am going to get up to with the crew at &some. They are an amazingly passionate and intimidatingly talented crew, and together we have got some really big ideas, and some huge plans. No doubt I will be sharing some of them with you over the coming months.
Right now my biggest concern is being the only Kiwi working with a Glaswegian and two Australians.
(if you want a sneak peek at what &some have been up to check out the &some YouTube channel)
