My favourite quote from the Marketing Association’s Brand Summit 2025 was from Colleen Ryan.
She revealed the results of TRA’s Mood of the Nation report, which asked how people felt about the future of technology. Most were optimistic… but also sceptical.
“This is what we would call ‘an emotional hot mess’,” says Ryan, much to my amusement but also agreement. She adds, while most people appreciate the efficiency technologies like AI can bring, they don’t want it to rule their lives.
As TRA’s report puts it: “What we want is human.”
This sentiment was present throughout the whole summit, with speakers telling stories about how moments of human connection helped lift their brands to new heights.
Stay the course
The day kicked off with adidas general manager Pacific and former Football Fern Rachel Howard, who detailed how the sports brand managed to lift itself from a slump and back into mainstream appeal.
Her advice? “Stay the course and believe in what you’re doing.”
The goal was to build a global brand that spoke with a local voice in each of its markets “so consumers can see people that look like them,” says Howard.
Consistency, purpose and a clear brand position helped adidas to stand out from others in the marketplace.
That brand positioning focused in on pressure, which makes everything feel impossible, says Howard. “We wanted to bring the freedom back to sport.”
Respect the user
AI – of course – was on the agenda. A panel discussion was up next, featuring Google’s Hannah Weir, Spark’s Luke Smith, Tracksuit’s Connor Archbold and Air New Zealand’s Grace Blewitt and moderated by Reason’s Tim Pointer.
They talked about brand visibility in the age of AI agents. The key takeaways were:
- Brand distinctiveness is key – consumer choice still exists, so give them something that makes you stand out.
- AI applications like ChatGPT are another channel and therefore another mindset that you need to be conscious of.
- Be easy to find.
- Respect the user.
A story of How
ANZ general manager marketing and YouTube NZ Marketing Awards’ Marketer of the Year Matthew Pickering then took to the stage with TBWA\ CEO Catherine Harris to tell a story of ‘How’.
Similar to Howard, this story started in 2019 with a brand in crisis, only to rise in popularity again. The aim was to develop a platform that was distinctive, engaging and emotive. “To make customers proud to be with ANZ,” says Pickering.
Harris adds: “We want to empower everyone with know-how – it’s a pithy promise.”
Over the last five years, ANZ and TBWA\ have developed that promise with various services. For example, adding a 1% energy top up to home loans, a two-year support programme for new businesses, helping people shop safer online and sponsoring Auckland FC.
Their brand ads, which feature the Sharma family, are consistently listed among TRA’s top 10 ads and have become characters in their own right.
The bank was also named Brand of the Year at the YouTube NZ Marketing Awards in 2024.
Pickering’s advice is to innovate and be bold but ultimately be authentic and true to the brand promise.
Bra better
Kiwi underwear company Bendon was next to take the stage, alongside creative agency YoungShand, to talk about its new brand campaign: Bra Better.
It came from the insight that every woman deserves a better bra, says Bendon’s general marketing manager Piers Bebbington and YoungShand creative director Julie Spedding.
They talked about how over the past two years Bendon has refocused its efforts on better connecting in with customers and figuring out what their wants and pain points are.
Customers said they want comfort, fit and affordability, says Bebbington. So Bendon started to remove the friction from the fitting experiences, showcasing their staff expertise to make the process less confusing, and highlighting their power to provide a bra for every moment.
Don’t waterdown your personality
The next session was another highlight of mine: the chat between Tourism Australia’s chief marketing officer Susan Coghill and Thinkerbell founder Adam Ferrier about bravery in branding.
Coghill and Ferrier kept it relaxed and jovial as they discussed how exactly you go about marketing an entire country.
“Don’t water down the personality,” was Coghill’s answer. True to her word, Tourism Australia’s latest ad campaign certainly doesn’t, with Robert Irwin and a CGI kangaroo leading the charge.
Coghill adds that just after they got Irwin on board, his (now viral) campaign with Bonds was released and he was also named a contestant on Dancing With The Stars. “He’s doing us proud,” says Coghill.
Capturing hearts
That central theme of connecting with people rounded out the summit. The final panel of the day looked at the next-gen brands “capturing hearts”. It featured fashion brand Ruby, Dr Bugs Popcorn, Ed&I Body, beverage brand Pals.
One of the facts that blew just about everyone in the audience away was that Dr Bugs were dropping a new flavour of popcorn every month – and at one point, one a week. “It’s about being happy to fail,” says sales and marketing manager Reuben Posthuma.
While his keynote speech was under Chatham House Rules, NZ Marketing got to chat with Henry Ong before he took the stage at the summit.
Ong is a powerhouse of brand strategy at Disney, Marvel and now Universal Pictures. His key insight from his time in the industry is that successful brands feel human.
“The most enduring brands create experiences that people want to be part of, not just products to consume. Whether through content, community or cultural relevance, if people feel something and see themselves in the brand, that’s success,” says Ong.
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