Crowned Australian Startup of the Year &
Heading to the Entrepreneurship World Cup
March 2024

In an exhilarating turn of events, Auric Essentials has been crowned the Australian Startup of the Year, earning the prestigious opportunity to represent our country at the Entrepreneurship World Cup (EWC) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, this November 2024. This recognition is a testament to our innovation, hard work, and a beacon of Australia’s vibrant startup community’s support and collaboration.

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Remote work: Navigating the new norm with wellness and productivity at the forefront
February 2024

The transition to remote work has illuminated its myriad benefits, such as enhanced flexibility, reduced commute times, and an opportunity for individuals to craft a more balanced life. However, this shift has not been without its challenges. Issues such as isolation, blurred boundaries between work and personal life, and the health implications of prolonged sedentary behavior have emerged as significant concerns.

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New Year, New You?
Let’s Talk Real Wellness
January 2024

New Year, New You? Let's Talk Real Wellness

This year, let’s keep mental well-being in the spotlight. Wellness isn’t just about physical fitness; it’s equally about nurturing our minds. Big and small rituals form the backbone of a balanced life. They ground us, comfort us, and create a sense of stability amidst chaos. And now, with technological advancements, these rituals are not just acts of self-care but can be tracked and optimised for our health.

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The Growing Mental Health Concern in Australia
December2023

Australia, like many nations, has witnessed a significant uptick in mental health challenges in recent years. The National Health Survey by the Australian Bureau of Statistics paints a stark picture: 42.9% of Australians aged 16–85 years have experienced a mental disorder in their lifetime. More alarmingly, 21.5% had a mental disorder in the past year, predominantly anxiety disorders. These figures underline a silent epidemic sweeping across our nation, impacting young and old alike.

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A Tale of Three GPTs
November 2023

OpenAI announced this week it will let users create their own versions of GPT for fun or productivity use cases. Users can build these bots just through prompt without knowing any coding. The company will also let enterprise customers make internal-only GPTs built on top of the company’s knowledge base. The company said developers can connect GPTs to databases or knowledge bases like emails to import external information. I’m excited to share three AI personalities I created today.

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Auric Names As Top 10 Health and Wellness Finalist.
September 2023

The Super Connect for Good Competition, has been recognizing and connecting groundbreaking startups and scale-ups since 2020. The initiative aims to foster collaboration between innovative tech companies and various stakeholders, including corporates, SMEs, funders, and the public sector and annually publishes a Tech for Good report.

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Embracing the Scented Pathway to Holistic Wellbeing
August 2023

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Since the dawn of civilization, people have turned to the power of plants for healing purposes and wellbeing. Over the past three months, I’ve embarked on a captivating odyssey—one that has led me through the intricate corridors of olfactory science and the enchanting world of essential oils.

With their soothing essence, they have the ability to promote a tranquil and serene state of mind, relieving stress and anxiety to instill a deep sense of calm, wellness and mental health strength. This voyage of discovery has illuminated the profound relationship between scents, emotions, and our holistic well-being.

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Powering Wellness Through Biometrics and AI
July 2023

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As we look to the future, AI’s capability to develop novel products using biometrics seems virtually boundless. Imagine AI-driven wellness solutions that not only predict potential health risks but suggest preventative measures in real time. Or smart homes that adapt to your mood, stress levels, and biological rhythm, creating an environment that promotes overall well-being.

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Unleashing the Creative Power of Human-AI Synergy: Auric Experiences
June 2023

Recognising the delicate balance between human creativity and the algorithm of creativity, Auric Experiences adopts an approach that amplifies and augments human ingenuity with AI.

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WPP Australia revenue growth a stand out to start 2023.
April 2023

WPP in Australia has seen better growth in the March quarter than the rest of the advertising group’s business in Asia-Pacific. The company remains on track to deliver full-year guidance, thanks to the competitiveness of the offer and our role as a modern, trusted partner to clients in a world further disrupted by technology.

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Honest Eggs, the first-ever fitness trackers designed for chickens
March 2023

Honest Eggs Co. is on a mission to change egg farming for the better. VMLY&R has launched FitChix, the first-ever fitness trackers designed for chickens to help monitor the health of their chooks and to continue to bring attention to why regenerative farming is better for the hens, the egg, the land, the farmer, and the community

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WPP and Big Commerce Partner to Enhance Global E-Commerce Offering
February 2023

WPP will help shape product development and innovation at BigCommerce with commerce specialists joining product and partner councils, in addition to receiving access to a custom training program and certification pathways. As part of the partnership, WPP will commit to upskilling 150 commerce specialists within the first year of working with BigCommerce.

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2023 the Year of AI
January 2023

The debate on what ChatGPT can and can’t do with the creative industry way of working will rage on, but the only way to find out is to put it to the test. And let me tell you, AI and machine learning are taking over the workplace faster than a robot on steroids.

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Montu Named Australia’s Fastest Growing Tech Company
December 2022

Montu is on a mission to improve lives for millions of Australians through medical cannabis therapies. As an early investor I have seen first hand how the company has helped thousands of patients. Montu has built an integrated cannabis ecosystem, which streamlines the journey for patients end-to-end, and sets new standards in cannabis care.

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Diversity Council Australia Names WPP an ‘Inclusive Employer’ in Australia
November 2022

To be deemed an ‘Inclusive Employer’, an organisation must prove they are actively committed to inclusion by exceeding the National Index Benchmark on at least five out of six of the inclusivity measures. These measures are Awareness, Engagement, Inclusive Organizational Climate, Inclusive Leadership, Inclusive Team and Exclusion. WPP surpassed the benchmarks in all six areas.

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WPP Australia & New Zealand Creative Council
October 2022

Ideas that have ‘magic’ at their heart. Ideas that impact culture. Ideas that redefine categories. Ideas that make other people plain jealous.  We recently formed a WPP Australia/New Zealand Creative Council with representation from Ogilvy, VMLY&R, Wunderman Thompson, AKQA, Whitegrey, and Hogarth. A good mix of wise old creative heads and exciting young talent. 

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Tennis Australia Action Audio
September 2022

Developed by AKQA in partnership with Tennis Australia and Monash University, Action Audio draws on ball monitoring using computer vision to emphasise key moments of play. It does so with a 3D sound design system that has been developed in collaboration with the blind and low vision community

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WPP named a Leader in new analysis of Global Marketing Service Providers
August 2022

WPP has also been named a Leader among Global Marketing Service providers in The Forrester Wave™: Global Marketing Services, Q3 2022 report. WPP received the highest scores possible in seven criteria, including creative and content services, customer data strategy and activation services, digital experience services, workforce strategy and performance.

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Cannes Lions & ANA’s CMO Tech & Data Growth Council
July 2022

Among the most important initiatives of the CMO Growth Council are those centred on data, technology, and measurement — the engines that will lead marketers into the future. Delighted to be involved.

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WPP Wins Most Creative Company At Cannes Lions 2022
June 2022

The Creative Company of the Year award is given to the company which earned the most points across its agencies at the Cannes Advertising Festival. WPP was also the most awarded company in the Creative Business Transformation category, reflecting the company’s expertise in creating new and innovative products and services for clients, and reimagining customer experiences or business models

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Roogenic Medicinal Bushfoods Have Never Been More Accessible and Delicious
May 2022

At Roogenic, we plan to work with more International distributors to improve the health of millions of people worldwide with Australian bushfoods. With your support, we can continue to work with Indigenous growers and manufacture new product ranges with unique health benefits that we can take to the rest of the world.

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Bunsters – The Global Hot Sauce Phenomenon Now Makes Cocktails
April 2022

Bunsters keeps going from strength to strength. Since launching off of the back of a good old fashioned crowd funding campaign in 2015, raising $250,000 Bunsters just keeps kicking goals. They’ve doubled their hot sauce offering, done a sell out Peanut Butter Collaboration and come up with an entirely new direction for the company in a booming segment: A subscription based Ready to Drink Cocktail Club.

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The Metaverse Foundry
March 2022

The Metaverse Foundry is a resource available to all of WPP’s clients and agencies globally, bringing the very best expertise in metaverse production and virtual art together to help realise strategies and ideas from across the WPP network.

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WPP Outstanding 2021 Results
February 2022

We have seen the acceleration of two significant trends in 2021, in data and purpose, that we expect to continue. The shift to digital and omnichannel commerce is driving companies to increase investment in data-driven marketing, which requires better (and privacy-compliant) customer data as well as marketing technology transformation. We are also witnessing very strong demand for strategic advice on purpose, sustainability and broader social issues.

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Mediative Travel – New Trend from Wunderman Thompson Intelligence Report
January 2022

Meditative apps for wellness are finding new space in the travel sector, giving stressed and anxious travelers access to therapeutic sessions to ease their minds during their journey. One of one hundred trends from the Wunderman Thompson Intelligence report “The Future 100: Trends and Change to Watch in 2022,” an essential trend almanac offering a snapshot of the year ahead and the most compelling trends to keep on the radar.

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The Power of Creativity to Build Better Futures
December 2021

There really is no other organisation quite like WPP. Being part of this incredible company – with our 100,000 talented people, huge range of capabilities and presence in 110 different countries – means you get to be part of a unique opportunity to help bring about change in ways that others in our industry cannot.

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Don’t Choose Extinction at COP26
October 2021

It’s great to see our WPP agency Wunderman Thompson Australia hard at work this week getting involved in COP26. The “Don’t Choose Extinction “campaign engages with our world leaders in a drive towards a sustainable recovery from the COVID-19 crisis.

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WPP and Snap Launch Augmented Reality Partnership
September 2021

WPP is Snap’s inaugural Agency AR partner, that will collaborate with Snap on new products and technology, such as the recently launched Snapchat Trends tool, which allows teams to use proprietary insights and data to inform creative and campaign development. WPP will also gain access to a custom AR Lab Strategy Guide, which includes best practices to inform creative development using Snap’s AR technology while ensuring that branded AR experiences can be brought to market faster and more easily than ever before.

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Audio Programming that Can Listen, Remember and Adjust
August 2021

Like an invisible companion, Sound is no longer dependent on a carrier medium or dedicated device. Instead, listening has become mobile and on-demand. Sound accompanies us wherever we go, without interruption.

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What Digital Transformation Is, And What It Is Not
July 2021

An opportunity to optimize customer experience to create happier customers and increase revenue is an aspiration. Innovate faster, collaborate efficiently, and deliver more value with less effort is a goal. In my experience working with enterprise digital transformation, there can be unrealistic expectations of what such an initiative can and should achieve—some learnings.

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WPP wins industry’s most creative company at Cannes Lions 2021
June 2021

Cannes Lions, a five-day International Festival of Creativity, is the largest gathering in the creative marketing community. Winning the most creative company of the year at these awards is a culmination of many hours of tireless work from many talented WPP people, fearless brand marketers, and brilliant production partners. Check out the great work.

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Accessible Technology
May 2021

Bringing people with different backgrounds, and experiences together can improve problem solving and creativity, while contributing different points of view. A core element of embracing diversity and inclusivity is ensuring that every single employee has access to all the tools and resources they need to enable them to do their best work.

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WPP has been named a Leader among commerce services providers by Forrester Research, Inc.
April 2021

One of the strongest signals for marketing and technology leaders today continues to be The Forrester Wave™. In its latest 28-criterion evaluation of commerce services providers, Forrester identified WPP as one of the 14 most significant ones and ranked WPP as a Leader.

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Mozaik Play empowering people to pursue a career in the creative industries
March 2021

I am excited to announce I have taken an investment and advisory board position at Mozaik Play, the first and only specialised student agency for the creative industries worldwide. Mozaik Play is a platform to connect the next generation of creative professionals with the most reputable creative media colleges worldwide to fuel growth across the creative economy.

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Being relevant at the right stage of the journey
February 2021

The conversational AI platform market will exceed $12B by 2025 as brands figure out how to interact with customers via conversational AI platforms, Marketing Technologyand Marketing Communication teams will have a new playing field to explore. An interview with Velocitize.

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WPP and TikTok announce First-of-its-Kind Global Agency Partnership
January 2021

WPP has closed a deal with TikTok to enable its agencies and their clients to tap into the culture-shaping impact and reach of the short form video and digital platform. The world’s largest advertising group will have early access to advertising products in development.

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WPP Extraordinary Awards
December 2020

Creativity is more than just a great idea. It has the ability to bring about change and to transform businesses. In a year defined by disruption, WPP launched these awards to celebrate our people and recognise work that demonstrates the power of creativity to build better futures for our clients and communities. This year’s winners were selected from almost 1,000 entries across five categories. Four reflect WPP’s offer: Communications, Experience, Commerce and Technology, while the fifth – the top prize – is for the best example of Creative Transformation for clients.

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Marketing Tech Symposium 2020
November 2020

A carefully crafted marketing technology event and program combining inspiring keynotes with informal activities, deep think tanks and time to build real relationships.

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Opinion:

Integrating Artificial Intelligence Into How We Live, Work, And Communicate
September 2020

Over time I have learned that advancement in technology can provide the evidence to enhance and support a decision or create an output—getting the balance right as AI advances is both a challenge, a responsibility, and where the magic can be found.

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Humanity and the Machine, Secret and Lies Series
July 2020

WPP AUNZ Secret and Lies research studies explore the difference between what we say out loud and what we really think across a range of topics that are particularly relevant to our clients. As technology plays an even more important role than ever in how we function as a society, this month, we got some of our key partners together to examine the topic ‘humanity and the machine’ and explored our relationship with tech.

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Accessibility verses Inclusivity
June 2020

The enormous – and underserved – market for people with disabilities is ripe for innovation and disruption. Companies that understand this and take advantage of the opportunity will be making a strategic decision with long-term benefits.

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Marketers in Pyjamas
May 2020

Marketers around the world are always craving inspiration. To hear the weird and wonderful ideas floating around the minds of creative marketers during COVID-19, as they share their experimentation and the ingenuity born from it. Check out a couple of examples during May 2020.

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Bunnings Lower Prices is Just the Beginning
April 2020

Bunnings have introduced a number of new digital and low touch economy services across Australia and New Zealand during COVID-19 which has resulted in significant demand and growth.

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Being Creative with Technology Remote Working Tools during COVID-19
March 2020

Technology can and is playing a vital role in reducing the impact of COVID-19 on our people and our client organizations. The WPP people work with a myriad of cloud technology tools that drive media, strategy, creativity, production and marketing technology solutions. Here are some great new remote working tools available to be creative with your workforce during this challenging time.

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WPP AUNZ New Corporate Strategy and the Centre of Excellence Announced
February 2020

WPP AUNZ announced this week to the market a raft of changes and new initiatives, all part of a new corporate strategy including a Centre of Excellence. The creation of the new practice delivers both a hub and spoke model to our WPP AUNZ agencies to ensure creativity and marketing expertise leads technology and operational efficiencies for brands to engage and enrich customers using data and marketing technology.

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Smoogys, bushfire face mask that gives 100% of profits to the Royal Fire Service
January 2020

Young talent from Wavemaker and Ogilvy part of WPP AUNZ have begun producing and selling Smoggys, a brand of P2 pollution masks created to raise money for the Rural Fire Service.

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Bushfire season
December 2019

It’s important you stay up to date before, during and after bush fires and other emergencies this summer. To help, the NSW RFS provides information and warnings through a range of digital channels including the Fires Near Me mobile app.

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WPP at Salesforce Dreamforce 2019
November 2019

The four-day event hosted in San Francisco has grown into so much more than a conference – from inspiring keynotes and sessions to visionary thinking to discovering the future of technology and actually changing the world, it’s a jam-packed event that puts Salesforce products on full display for their suppliers, vendors, and consultants.

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auric, the world’s first beautiful, connected, and personalized essential oils experience.
October 2019

auric is a platform, a digital defusing device for your home that combines essential oils and experiences, a daily sequenced playlist for your senses to cleanse the mind, purify the body and give you the high awareness required to create intimacy with others.

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Mindshare Invites Ad Industry to #ChangetheBrief to Tackle the Global Climate Crisis
September 2019

Mindshare, the global agency network that is part of WPP, is issuing an invitation to the wider industry to #ChangeTheBrief and use its skills to address the global climate crisis.Agencies that support #ChangeTheBrief commit to creating work which answers the ‘Now’ brief, to help clients sell their products, but also the ‘Future’ brief, to encourage the attitudes, lifestyles and behaviours which are consistent with a transition to a carbon-free world.

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AKQA and Foodstuff Reveal Transformed Omnichannel Experience for New Zealand Retail Giant, New World
August 2019

The New World digital ecosystem creates a link between personalised, inspirational and promotional content for shoppers to make online transactions, interact with shoppable recipes, articles and shopping list builders.

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GroupM partner with Adobe Advertising Ambassador Program
July 2019

GroupM, WPP AUNZ’s media investment arm, today announced that it has become a launch partner in Adobe’s inaugural Advertising Ambassador Program. CMOs like to see agencies using multiple Adobe cloud products to help create and managing experiences that are being deployed and orchestrated across Omni channels.

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WPP Takes the Plastic Out Of Wire Plastic Products at Cannes Advertising Festival 2019
June 2019

While WPP had yet another successful Cannes Lions Festival it was the announcement from the company to take on a series of initiatives designed to ensure it is playing its part in tackling pollution from single-use plastics by the end of the year demonstrated to me the company vision of a creative transformation company.

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Salesforce APAC Partner Conference 2019 – Thailand
May 2019

Salesforce hosted their top fifty partners from across the region to join the Salesforce APAC Leadership team and APAC Alliances Leadership Team for an exclusive opportunity to network, interact and exchange business, whilst celebrating the success from FY19.

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Adobe Summit 2019 – Las Vegas
April 2019

Great experiences can set you apart and increase revenue growth, customer retention rates, and customer lifetime value. As the clear leader in the market, most CMOs are using Adobe as the backbone for creating and managing experiences that are being deployed across these channels. This year’s Adobe summit served to further showcase Adobe’s support of marketers to extend the value of their existing investments and bring sales and marketing into tighter alignment.

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5G Will Change Everything
March 2019

5G is expected to allow for up to 1 million devices functioning at full capability in 1 square kilometer. Energy, Efficiency, and Service Deployment are the next key areas that will be changed by 5G, allowing for devices to consume a staggering 90% less energy in data operations compared to 4G networks.

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OK Google ‘Speak to Frank Insurance’
February 2019

frank Health Insurance has launched Australia’s first voice app for the Private Health Industry (PHI) category by WPP AU NZ whiteGREY. Speak to Frank Insurance on your Google Assistant, to find answers to your private health insurance questions. Ask general questions about health insurance with your voice, like where to find what you need, how to claim or how to get online through your Google Assistant-enabled devices, including your Google Home.

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Joining WPP as Executive Director Marketing Technology Australia & New Zealand
January 2019

I’m excited to announce on my blog that WPP has appointed me into a newly created role of Executive Director, Marketing Technology Australia, and New Zealand. I start today located at 1 Kent Street, Miller Point in Sydney.

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The first language we learned as humans. The language of touch and smell.
December 2018

Introducing the Connection Oils experiment by 21st & Dolores. The objective, to explore how the aromatherapy benefits can be enhanced further using technology to bring a community of wellness experts and more stillness into your home. The Connection Oils experiment is a IOT product and platform founded in my downtime on principle to learn more about essentials oils and how to remove the friction to using them more often to create mindfulness in the home.

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Be Useful First
November 2018

A few life lessons to go over this month as I relocate from Singapore back to Sydney. Don’t take life too seriously. Dreams are necessary to life. You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough. And finally, understand the entire customer experience you are operating in and advance the user’s purpose pre, during and post any engagement and transaction of value.

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Creating a mindset change that a unique brand experience is for your minimal viable audience.
October 2018

A personal blog post this month about the smallest market that can sustain you, the smallest market you can adequately serve. This goes against everything the advertising media planned promises, but in fact, it’s the simplest way to matter.

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Dentsu launches new sports technology accelerator programme
September 2018

Dentsu is taking an active interest in the sports sector joining forces with Scrum Ventures, a US-based venture capital firm, to establish a global mentor-driven accelerator programme aimed at helping start-ups to develop the latest sports technology.

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Dentsu Jayme Syfu Greenpeace Dead Whale, Refuse Plastic Campaign
August 2018

The strikingly unusual awareness campaign for Greenpeace Philippines was an installation, a dead whale made of plastic placed on a beach in Naic in Cavite in Manila Bay in The Philippines.