Hunter marketer recognised among Top 50 CMO’s in Australia

Hunter marketer recognised among Top 50 CMO’s in Australia

Newcastle’s Joel Goodsir was recognised on the national stage last month when he was named the 9th top Chief Marketing Officer in Australia by CMO Magazine’s Top 50 Chief Marketing Officers.

Due to COVID-19, the usual high-profile Awards event, which recognises Australia’s most effective and innovative marketing leaders, was held virtually.

Joel, who is Head of Marketing for national retail chain Inspirations Paint (based in Warners Bay) successfully edged out Chief Marketers from large companies, such as Google, Woolworths, Suncorp, Nestle, Commonwealth Bank and Microsoft.

Inspirations Paint (formerly 3D Paint) began in Newcastle in 1971 as a buying group of five paint stores.

The group franchised in 1997 and now has 130 stores nationwide, with an annual turnover of $300 million.

Headquartered in Warners Bay, Inspirations Paint sells 25 million litres of paint each year, representing one-in-every-five litres of paint sold in Australia.

Joel, who completed his undergraduate and post-graduate degrees in business at the University of Newcastle, is proud to have received the accolade.

“The Award is a great honour and a reflection of the whole team at Inspirations Paint, who continue to deliver best practice in all they do,” he said.

“Being the only Hunter-based entrant and representing a Newcastle-based business is fantastic. I always aim to showcase Newcastle as the smart, creative and vibrant city it is.”

Joel joined Inspirations Paint in 2003.

In that time, he has seen turnover more than triple, brand awareness more than quadruple and Inspirations Paint maintain its hold on the number one ranking for customer satisfaction, which currently sits at 86 per cent.

Joel’s award submission focused on the actions he and the company have undertaken in 2020 to survive and thrive during the COVID-19 pandemic.

These actions were anchored in three pillars: digital transformation, advertising strategy and a store upgrade program.

Last December, Inspirations Paint became the first ecommerce site with selectable paint colours and logic to automatically calculate the required base.

The site launched with over 50,000 colours.

Sales on the company’s website have boomed during the pandemic, with thousands of Australian consumers taking advantage of online ordering.

“The success of our online innovation was paired with a strong pick-up promise: tinted and ready in two hours nationwide,” Joel said.

“A year ago, you couldn’t buy a can of Dulux Wash & Wear online and pick it up from your local hardware store or paint shop. We are the first retailer offering this.”

When COVID-19 hit in March, Joel received the same directive most marketing leaders received: to cut the advertising budget. However, as other advertisers withdrew, Joel held firm.

“I made the case the pandemic was like any other economic crisis or downturn and that if we kept investing in brand, we could achieve excess share of voice [eSOV], which is proven to benefit brands years after the crisis,” he said.

Inspirations Paint increased its advertising spend in May/June, helping further boost sales.

This was on the back of launching a new campaign, featuring Gary Wright’s 1975 hit song, Dream Weaver.

“Our Newcastle-based agency, The Village of Useful, created our best campaign ever, with 91 per cent customer liking,” he said.

“As media prices fell, we took advantage of the additional air time and bonuses available.”

Finally, Joel and his team designed a customer first experience (CFX) program, which has since manifested into all Inspirations Paint’s touchpoints.

It is the culmination of a year’s worth of customer interviews, store designs, stakeholder engagement, store prototypes, funding models and is rolling out to all stores.

“We wanted to design stores to deliver the very best shopping experience for trade (B2B) and retail customers, integrated with our online offering,” Joel said.

The new store design sought to eradicate the pain-points customers identified.

The motto for the new store design is We do the hard yards to make shopping easier for the customer and it is clearly paying off, with retail sales up more than 35 per cent on last year.

IMAGE | Inspirations Paint Chief Marketing Officer, Joel Goodsir

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