Marketingmag.com.au chats to Richard Hayward – MD, Haystac and GM, PR & Marketing Services, Mitchell Communication Group. If you would
like to see a certain
marketer profiled, please email your suggestion to Kate Kendall, online
editor, on [email protected].

1. What do you do?

Joint MD, Haystac and GM, PR & Marketing Services, Mitchell Communication Group.

2. What was your first job?

Washing dishes to pay my way through uni. After that, an account executive at PR firm Buchan Communications.

3. What did you study?

PR at RMIT.

4. Describe a typical day?

• 6am: Head to the gym to help wake me up for the day.
• 8am: Grab a coffee, arrive at work, scan the papers and online news sites, respond to overnight emails.
• 8.30-10am: Attend client media launch.
• 10-11am: Meet with internal team to discuss strategy for Jetstar’s upcoming 5th birthday – a great account that encourages creativity and big-picture thinking
• 11-midday: Meet with Rodeo’s GM (our digital agency) to plan integrated campaign for Australia’s Post’s bi-centenary. Almost all of our major accounts are using Rodeo’s online services to extend campaign reach.
• Midday-1pm: Manage admin – were heading into budget setting period so a meeting with the team account directors to set personnel and financial targets for the year ahead.
• 1pm: Working lunch with Haystac’s new head of healthcare down from Sydney to discuss new business and work in progress with key clients. Lunch is usually a sandwich at my desk – can’t believe I just missed the 80s…
• 2-3.30pm: Meet with consumer client for annual review – all good – but business pressures for next FY remain high.
• 3.30-5pm: Telephone interviews with short-listed candidates to manage our Singapore office to be established in June.
• 5-6pm: Not sure where this hour went… surfing the web?
• 6.30-8.30pm: Attend Climate Positive board meeting (not-for-profit climate change group). We’re planning a major initiative in July – watch this space…
• 9-10pm: Home, late dinner and a glass of wine on the couch.

5. What is on the agenda for 2009?

Expansion. While the economic downturn has generally been bad news for the marketing sector, it has created opportunities for PR and digital agencies – we’ve grown from 45 to 65 staff in the past 18 months. Haystac is set to open Singapore and Auckland offices in June, so their early success is a priority.

Our digital creative agency Rodeo continues to grow solidly and we’re increasingly marrying traditional PR with social media and creative digital strategies.

6. What brand do you love the most? Hate the most? Why?

Apart from Haystac? Short of naming a stack of our clients, I admire brands that match their public image with real life performance, such as Apple and Harley-Davidson.

7. What do you believe has been the most significant moment in the history of marketing?

February 2001. Formation of Haystac.

Kerry Armstrong’s ‘Coke is good for you’ campaign was a winner.

8. Where can people find you?

The Gem Hotel, Wellington Street, Collingwood.