A QUT alumnus who opened her own business beat Australia's marketing royalty, taking out the top Marketing award at the Australian Marketing Institute's 2014 Marketing Excellence Awards.
Owner of VIE Marketing and Master of Business (Communications) alumnus Jane Clark received the 'Marketing Program of the Year' award for her campaign to help save an 80 year old dairy from closure.
Jane was approached by the owner of Beaudesert based Scenic Rim Robotic Dairy, Greg Dennis, to develop a campaign around a new brand of milk.
Greg established the brand after receiving a renewal contract offer from his previous production company which would have meant working for less than costs.
Faced with the prospect of walking away from his third generation dairy farm, Greg decided to break away from the accepted business model of almost all Queensland dairy farms and produce, process and bottle his own milk.
Scenic Rim 4Real Milk was successfully launched in June last year and is now stocked in over 200 independent stores and cafes around South East Queensland.
VIE Marketing's campaign was chosen over some of Australia's most established marketing companies and was praised by judges for its "'back to basics' approach to resolving a marketing problem faced by many organisations".
This approach reflects Jane's broader ethos in establishing VIE: a basic approach to a traditionally complex practice.
After having children and finding it difficult to find challenging, flexible work in marketing, Jane decided to make her own way by establishing a business and employing other senior level marketing professionals who have children and work from home.
Jane says the advantage of the simplicity of this model is demonstrated in their outcomes.
"Our overheads are limited, so clients pay only for clever, creative marketing with a focus on results," said Jane.
"I'm thrilled about the award as it proves that the best campaigns don't need huge budgets or high profile Sydney or Melbourne based companies."
