Zenith hosts Pinnacle event series discussing key consumer and media trends

Zenith hosted its Pinnacle event series in Brisbane yesterday, featuring a panel of industry leaders who discussed key consumer and media trends impacting the Australian market in 2020, and learnings from their businesses and sectors.

Presented and moderated by Zenith Australia CEO, Nickie Scriven, panellists included TikTok ANZ’s head of agency, Andrew Cambridge; Lite n’ Easy national media manager, Kim Muridge; and Premium Content Alliance CEO, Kim Portrate.

For Lite n’ Easy, Muridge said demand for its products grew significantly during Covid-19, with the business benefiting from consumers turning to established brands. “While our weight loss offering continued to be a popular choice for our core market of women aged over 30, we also saw significant growth in the healthy convenience market, and in the seniors’ market. This is testimony to the fact that in times of great uncertainty, people turn to brands they know and trust,” Muridge said.

Portrate added: “Last year, we saw Australians turning to trustworthy brands, as well as trusted sources of information. From a media point of view, this was reflected in the increase in viewers, readers and listeners to certain news sources. From an advertiser perspective, one of the most important learnings through the last 16 months was when brands connected and surpassed the expectations of their consumers in ways that demonstrated they truly understood them – despite a potential short-term revenue hit along the way – they emerged on the other side of a crisis faster and stronger than their competitors.”

Scriven further added, “What we saw over the past year was a need, more than ever, for businesses and other organisations to focus on brand and authenticity, especially as people became increasingly cautious. This means being true to your brand values and delivering on your brand promise. Fluffy communications just didn’t cut it during the pandemic – consumers and audiences saw right through it.”

Cambridge said during lockdown Australians turned to TikTok for light relief, to tap into their passions, find connections and learn something new. “People discovered diverse communities, based around everything from sourdough to succulents, as they looked to be entertained. Brands also rapidly started creating content on TikTok, and we’ve been incredibly proud of the work we’ve achieved, collaborating with many of the country’s top businesses. What resonated with our community was the realness and authenticity on TikTok that they were not finding elsewhere, and clever brands saw the opportunity to do something really creative with the unique video content being created on the platform,” he said.

The Zenith event was attended by clients and media companies including the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, Battery World, Beyond Payment Systems, Nine, Seven, SBS, Nova and QMS. The Pinnacle event series, presented by Zenith, brings industry leaders together to discuss key issues in the media and marketing sector.

Warwick Taylor, GM of Zenith Brisbane said: “It was fantastic to be able to get our clients and media partners together in the one room again. And with such a great panel and interesting discussion, it was the perfect way to launch the Pinnacle series in Brisbane and set such a great benchmark for future Pinnacle events.”

Top Image: Lite n’ Easy National Media Manager, Kim Muridge, Zenith Australia CEO, Nickie Scriven, Premium Content Alliance CEO, Kim Portrate, TikTok ANZ Head of Agency, Andrew Cambridge