Strategic Brand Management
Brand Nexus provides strategic brand and marketing management. Recently Netball SA and the Adelaide Thunderbirds needed strategic marketing leadership to cover a maternity leave position. For 2 days a week over 2023, Brand Nexus consulted with Netball SA’s CEO, Senior Leadership team and their Board to lead their marketing and events team and deliver a three year strategic marketing plan. A consulting arrangement like this gives an organisation flexibility to switch on capability as required and enough contact time to ensure the marketing team are delivering to objectives.
So what is the Brand Nexus differenece? In the 1950s and 60s, there were two school of thoughts about advertising. David Ogilvy believed that advertising was a science that relies on formula. For Bill Bernbach, on the other hand, advertising was an art. Bill Bernbach left Grey Advertising to launch Doyle Dane Bernbach - known these days as DDB.
The Brand Nexus philosophy is that both science and art are important. Analyse data and trends and then use that intel to unleash the power of creativity - push the envelope as far as you can to get the attention of your audience and to then deliver them a relevant message.
Cut through the noise and let the market know what you stand for.
Brand Nexus helps organisations to do this. We act as essentially as a Chief Marketing Officer/Chief Brand Officer and brand/advertising/CX/content agency in one. Boards, CEO’s and MD’s can engage Brand Nexus on a project basis as required for top end consultancy and strategy or full end-to-end management using a network of subject matter experts.
Our People
Dan Demaria
Founder & Principal
I’ve spent a 35 year career working with brands - firstly in multinational advertising agencies and then as a Chief Marketing Officer. I am now an “on-demand” CMO or Chief Brand Officer that any business can access on an as-needs basis on a retainer or through project work. This concept is also known as a “Fractional CMO” - a concept growing in popularity particularly in the US and the start-up world. As the name suggests, a “Fractional CMO” is a CMO who is contracted on a fractional or part-time basis for organisations who need a high level CMO but may not yet have the resources to fund one full-time. A Fractional CMO can work on retainer 1, 2 or 3 days a week as required giving high level marketing leadership but also at a fraction of the price.
I started Brand Nexus with the goal to help businesses build strong brands that get talked about. So what makes me different? Before I started my career, I completed a Psychology degree - this gave me a good runway into marketing by being able to understand human behaviour first before understanding consumer behaviour second - which was the grounding for my post-graduate Marketing studies.
My second differentiator is that I then worked the first half of my career in a number of multinational advertising agencies - the Young & Rubicam Group, J. Walter Thompson, Leo Burnett and Doyle Dane Bernbach in Sydney and Hong Kong gave me exposure to the big agency training and systems that have shaped my approach to marcomms today.
Thirdly, I honed my digital and content skills while a CMO at News Corp Australia - here I spent 14 years using best-practice SEO, SEM, Social, Content Marketing and other tools to drive acquisition, engagement and retention of digital journalism subscribers. At News I learnt what kind of content to develop, plan and market - and to which audiences - for maximum uptake.
My fourth differentiator is my commercial acumen - At News Corp I also looked after a Consumer Sales division which was responsible for over $50 million in annual revenue for the company. I also completed an Australian Institute of Company Directors Board course to understand best-practice board management.
Finally, I also ran a national Customer Experience (CX) department which gave me insight into the best tools to monitor customer sentiment and to act on it swiftly. Using world-class CX tools I ensured our user experience would be true to our marketing promise.
My tertiary education and 35 years of career experience - half in global advertising agencies and half as a CMO - have shaped my approach to marketing and brand building in a unique way. The Psychology, Marketing and Big Agency Marcomms training have influenced my own proprietary systems. This approach starts with data-lead discovery, strong strategic thinking with a commercial overlay and then break-through creative approaches that get attention and deliver relevant messages in a meaningful way. “Safe” marketing risks not being noticed and therefore risks lower ROI. I believe using data and taking a calculated risk means unlocking the power of creativity to gain an unfair advantage. With Brand Nexus, you have access to strategic marketing advice from a small business with low overheads and comparatively lower fees. Or if you require an end-to-end sales & marketing solution, Brand Nexus unlocks a network of specialists in every area to deliver the equivalent of a full service agency at a fraction of the cost.
What problem do you need solving?
What we do
Brand Nexus is essentially a marketing department and brand/advertising/CX/content agency in one. The Brand Nexus approach is holistic in that it marries world’s best practice in terms of creative marketing strategy, brand development and communications with sales management, content development and Customer Experience (CX). This approach ensures not just getting a customer’s attention and delivering a relevant marketing message but also selling product and ensuring the client brand delivers on the marketing promise as measured through the eyes of the customer.
We believe your brand should permeate everything your organisation does and be at a central point - or Nexus - of your business.
How We Can Help Your Business
We consult to CEOs/MD’s/Boards as required with a specialty in SME businesses:
We can work with existing marketing and sales teams and/or agencies or bringing access to a network of specialists
We consult on Marketing/Brand Strategy or complete end-to-end marketing, CX and sales management
We are costed via a 3-stage project basis: Discovery, Strategy and Execution - or can work on retainer