Mailchimp's Mission to Reposition in AUNZ, Challenge Marketers’ Outdated Perceptions

Mailchimp’s AUNZ principal marketing manager, Katy Pilar, is on a mission to reposition the brand in this region, and show marketers who may have used the product over a decade ago just how far it’s come.

“A big priority for me is getting reappraisal, and really showing marketers who used Mailchimp a long time ago how it has evolved and changed with the times,” she told LBB.

“Part of the double-edged sword of having been established here [across Australia and New Zealand] and having had a lot of customers in the past is that there is a perception of the product as it was 10 or more years ago, which was a very basic entry-level tool for very small businesses. That's not necessarily where we're at anymore, and so getting people to reconsider is definitely very core to our strategy.”

In November, Katy left Google after a decade in various marketing roles to join Mailchimp. She said, despite little historical investment, AUNZ has become one of the brand’s biggest markets globally.

“Mailchimp is an old product, 20 years old, which is old for tech. Without having done any investment in Australia and New Zealand, it was one of the biggest markets in the world.

“That doesn't happen often, we're a pretty small market in terms of population, and even though we have very forward-thinking tech adoption, not many companies can say we invested nothing, and it was one of the biggest markets in the world. That's what prompted us to say we should start to build out a presence.”

A strengthened local team is now focused on nurturing and growing  a highly-engaged marketing community, Katy said, and a particularly strong small business sector. 

“Our heritage at Mailchimp has been that very small end of town. I think you would be hard pressed to find a marketer in Australia who has never used Mailchimp – everyone has used it at some point.”

No Plans to Bring In-House Agency Wink Down Under

Mailchimp’s visual identity and advertising globally, including in AUNZ, is driven by its in-house agency, Wink – the team behind marketing event FWD and ‘Popup Like It’s Hot’.

Katy said the brand doesn’t engage creative agencies locally because Wink’s understanding of the business and its customers is so strong.

“We don't have plans to bring Wink to Australia right now, but we do work with Wink – we don't work with any local creative agencies. They are so brilliant. I've never worked with an in-house creative team before, and I'm so sold on that as an idea,” she said.

“I love external creative agencies as well, but most of the Wink people are very tenured with the brand, and they love the brand. They completely embody the brand. The level of closeness that they have to our customers, and the obsession that they have with driving the brand forward and addressing the customer challenge and meeting the customer's needs, it's unmatched.”

AI “The Most Transformative Opportunity In This World”

Two years on from its acquisition by software company Intuit, Katy said the global business has given Mailchimp “all of the resources of a big corporation,” boosting the decision to establish an on-the-ground team in Australia.

“That is a massive part of what we're trying to do differently …particularly with the way things are going where there's a lot more automation of critical business processes.”

The company is investing in AI as a way to reduce repetitive, data-heavy tasks and free up marketers to do higher-value, strategic work. 

“We think it's the most transformative opportunity in this world, and it's being integrated basically at every part of the product,” Katy said of AI.

“There are some really mundane, repetitive parts of the job of a person who is doing email marketing. We know email marketing works way better when it's really carefully segmented and really thoughtfully timed based on user signals. So these marketers, who probably got into marketing because they're interested in creative ideas and psychology and art, are stuck doing data analytics day in, day out. That’s not their skill set, not something they're interested in. 

“It's a real mismatch between what draws people to the industry and what they end up doing in their job. That's one of the areas where we see that going away entirely very, very soon.”

Whilst human creativity “is of value” in these data-heavy tasks, she said it’s not of value in the same way it is for messaging or design. 

“Subject lines are a place where I know for sure, in my time as a marketer, I've gone to copywriters and said, ‘Hey, I like this subject line, but can I have 10 alts? And can we A/B test five of them?’ That's not really what a copywriter wants to do, it's not interesting for them. That's the sort of place where we see AI being part of the partnership with creatives.”

Approaching her first year in the role, Katy laughed, “Mailchimp is a brand that is marketing to marketers – that’s the ultimate challenge, marketers are a tough crowd.”

“Mailchimp gets it. Mailchimp has always got it, they've always done things that push the boundaries, that cut through. There are so many examples of just cool, unexpected activations and ways of showing up with marketers that get noticed. Also the brand itself, the way that it talks, the colours, the logo, everything is just interesting and creative. It's a company that really has invested in that.”