Christmas special: Creating optimism this Christmas

Christmas special: Creating optimism this Christmas

Joining ARA CEO Paul Zahra for some Christmas Retail Therapy is Gemma Rees, Managing Partner at Fabric and Keenan Motto, Creative Partner at Fabric – which is part of the TBWA network – a strategic and design-led agency specialising in fashion and lifestyle brands.

Since the launch of the agency in 2019, Fabric has developed some iconic campaigns for retailers including MJ Bale, General Pants and Sheridan – they are also a strategic partner of the ARA, delivering our new brand and design systems as well as other campaigns to support and promote the retail industry.

As we head into the important festive trading period – a well-executed campaign around Christmas could make or break the fortunes for a retailer. Gemma and Keenan share their experience working with retailers to prepare for the upcoming Christmas shopping period and explore their top tips to retailers during this critical time.

Paul, Keenan and Gemma discuss:

  • The time and effort that goes into bringing a Christmas campaign to life
  • Functional and tactical Christmas campaigns
  • Leaning into the current mindset and emotion of customers
  • The evolution of Christmas campaigns
  • Taking an omni-channel approach to reach wider audiences
  • The role of online and in-store experiences
  • The uniqueness of an Australian Christmas
  • Conscious consumerism, sustainability and circularity trends
  • Iconic Christmas campaigns that have left a lasting legacy

Season 1: Trailer

Welcome to Retail Therapy – a podcast proudly brought to you by American Express. Each episode we’ll be chatting to a leader in Australia’s retail industry, including the CEOs of some of Australia’s biggest retailers. We’ll be finding out what makes them tick… What defines their leadership style… And how they got to the top of their game.

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Episode 1: Nicole Sheffield

What do canoes, boxes of wine and air-fryers all have in common? They are just some of the items Australia Post delivered, or sold, to Australians during lockdown. This first episode of Retail Therapy features a fantastic conversation with Nicole Sheffield, Executive General Manager, Community and Consumer at Australia Post.

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Episode 2: Sarah Hunter

In this episode of Retail Therapy, we speak with Sarah Hunter, the Managing Director of Officeworks – the go-to retailer for so many of us when it comes to office supplies, tech equipment and for families when it’s time for back to school.

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