Brian H Meredith
CEO The Marketing Bureau
Topics: Marketing; Sales; Business; Management; Media; Communications; Relationships; Success;
Brian is one of a rare breed of people who actually love spending time in front of an audience. And, as one of Brian’s Speaking Clients commented recently, “This man is no run of the mill, common or garden variety guest speaker!”
Brian himself says “There is no feeling in the world like the one you get when you know that an audience “gets” what you are saying – are interested, motivated or inspired by the sharing of your knowledge or perspective on a topic.”
“And the next best feeling is when people take the trouble to come and tell you that afterwards, sometimes even sacrificing their place in the coffee line to do that!” he continues.
“These two elements of my speaking engagements are the most satisfying and rewarding simply because they mean that someone else has been able to benefit from my experience and perspectives and are, hopefully, going to find ways to do things differently in their own business or professional lives”.
Brian has a thirty year career behind him in advertising and marketing, starting as a Junior Reporter on the Neath Guardian in South Wales and subsequently including senior roles in international advertising agencies in the U.K., including Leo Burnett and Saatchi & Saatchi.
Prior to moving to New Zealand, he was Acting CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi in Manchester
Since arriving in NZ in 1987 he has been General Manager, Marketing at Television New Zealand, Joint General Manager of Radio New Zealand in Auckland and Project Director of the 1992 New Zealand America’s Cup Challenge.
In 1993 he established The Marketing Bureau Ltd., a Marketing Consulting firm now with 8 Associates and having worked for many of New Zealand’s leading private and public sector organisations as well as clients in Australia, Hong Kong and the UK.
Brian has long held a passionate view about the power and simplicity of the marketing concept – that is that, given the reality that there is only one place the money comes from – customers – then it is vital that every organisation, irrespective of its size, shape or colour, should ensure that it is a market orientation that dominates that business or organisation.
And it is this view that Brian is skilled at making “come alive” in a Speaking environment.
“Marketing is much more a state of mind than it is anything else. It really only takes a few minutes to learn but a lifetime to master” says Brian.
But the message is not just for marketers – Brian argues that in every organisation, every single person is a mini-marketing director – responsible, in some way, for some behaviour, that can either contribute to, or detract from, the organisations marketing “effect”.
“There is no such thing as a small cog in a big wheel when it comes to marketing” he says. “Every person on every team makes a difference, every hour of every day. So they need to be equipped, nurtured and nourished to ensure they can achieve the very best outcomes from every customer or potential customer touch point in which they are involved”.
“It’s simply not good enough for an organisation to commit significant resource to crafting, for example, a Product Launch, with all the excitement, glitz and glamour that can involve, if there is someone in dispatch who fires off a pack of samples to the wrong recipient. Or someone on the accounts team who spells a customer’s name incorrectly on an invoice, or a van driver who harasses other drivers on the highway with the name of your brand emblazoned on the side of his vehicle”.
“All of these elements must come together in a planned and managed way to ensure that the TME (Total Marketing Effect) of an organisation is the right effect” concludes Brian.
And that is the conceptual framework within which Brian makes any of his Speaking Engagements come alive in a compelling way and which invariably sends audiences away feeling motivated, empowered and ready to make change in their own worlds.
I have engaged the services of Brian Meredith for a number of speaker engagements for companies such as CD Marketing Communications, Super Liquor, Air New Zealand and AgriQuality NZ, all with outstanding success. Firstly lets’ talk about what Brian is not. He is not; your standard, boring, guest speaker. He is a, unique, inspirational and seriously engaging and thought provoking speaker. Professional in every sense of the word, he has the ability to truly listen to the brief and understand what is required, he then puts his own ‘special twist’ on things and he has always ensured that the message that we needed to get through, does get through, along with a few extra lessons as well! Passionate about Marketing, Brian has an amazing way of connecting with even the most cynical of audiences. He always delivers a message that has people walking away from the presentation prepared to ‘do something different’ the next day. No matter what message I needed my teams to ‘get’, Brian always found some truly innovate way of reaching into their minds and eliciting a response! Just ask him to explain what appeared to be a very strange request for one large, whole salmon, “I need it with the head on JT” he said. And why we got to see more of Mr Meredith than anyone could possibly have imagined! How many guest speakers do you know who could get themselves out of a full wetsuit and waders and into a business suit whilst continuing with a riveting marketing commentary and no screens to hide behind! This man is no run of the mill, common garden variety guest speaker! Janine Tindale In 2009 Brian presented a series of three seminars for one of our titles – NZBusiness magazine at the Bizzone small business expos in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. We had excellent feedback from attendees and I was able to attend the Christchurch seminar. Bizzone had a Marketing Theme in 2010 and Brians topic was “What is marketing anyway”, he subtitled “You Won’t catch Trout If The Plug For The Jug Is In The Bathroom”. He took participants through a light hearted but informative romp through the fact that marketing isn’t just advertising – it is everything a company does and how important the little details are, if they don’t match the spin watch out – illustrated by the frustrations he had in his current hotel where the only tap to fill the kettle was the bathroom sink but the kettle didn’t fit under it and there was no easy place to plug the kettle in once it was full. Brian’s presentation captivated the audience and left useful and memorable messages with them. He was also astute in making sure NZBusiness magazine got mentioned without it being intrusive. We would happily use Brian in the future for similar work. Cathy Parker At all three Bizzone Expos in 2009, Brian was one of the stand-out speakers Glenn Baker I've seen Brian speak on two occasions. Andrew Haddleton I have known Brian for just over 2 years. In my role as Commercial Manager for the CSCT prior to it becoming DVML Ltd Brian and I presented on a number of occasions to a variety of interested parties both in Dunedin and the Otago/ Southland area, as we highlighted the benefits of the new stadium being built in Dunedin. The audiences went from a few hundred in purpose built performance arenas to 50 odd in an old village hall. Brian is an accomplished and professional speaker who plans his presentations very well. He has a good understanding of the content he wished to deliver and does so with polish and passion. He is engaging and is able to read an audience and tailor his delivery to suit. The content is always interesting and well researched. He has a great understanding of his topic and good insights which are interesting and educational. He has an excellent attention to detail and his natural sense of humour ensure his presentations are fun and uplifting. I can highly recommend him as a speaker, who will entertain and educate an audience and be able to deliver a presentation which is relevant and smart and enjoyable. Guy Hedderwick
Testimonials
Marketing Consultant
Director
Adrenalin Publishing
Editor
NZBusiness Magazine
Each time his talk had such an intriguing
title that you felt compelled to site through if only
to find out what he was going to say.
(That in itself is a great lesson in how to
create and produce your own presentations).
But he was worth hearing, not just for the intrigue.
Brian speaks about the imperative for marketing
within any business, not from a high-brow, technical
perspective, but illustrated with examples of good
and bad practice that he has come across, not
as a marketer, but as a consumer.
He demonstrates marketing with the everyday experiences
we all have as customers and his observations
make the blinkers fall away.... for those willing
to hear.
Any business could learn a lot from Brian's
common-sense observations AND remedies.
Director
GIG Marketing
Commercial Director
Dunedin Venue Management Ltd
Contact us to discuss your SME Marketing requirements
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