Summit: ldn25
Length: 24:17
The Museum of Old and New Art (Mona) in Hobart is the most infamous and talked about museum in Australia. It’s also one of the most visited. What’s the secret to its marketing sizzle sauce? And why does the museum appeal to people who hate museums? Their CMO, Robbie Brammall, has just finished up after 8 years in the cult. He’ll unpick the lessons he’s learned, starting with the only KPI billionaire owner David Walsh ever gave him: ‘Fail if you have to, upset people if you can, just don’t let us drift to the fucking middle’.
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After eight glorious years, Robbie has just finished up as Director of Marketing & Communications at Mona, to found his own consultancy Brandango. Whilst at Mona (one of the world’s more radical business groups) he was tasked with making mischief and money for over forty creatively driven brands – from the museum and its summer festival to a brewery, three wineries, a skincare company that repurposes river sludge as luxury face scrub, a recording studio that features the original mixing desk from Abbey Road Studios, and most recently a legally dubious ladies only lounge.
During his Mona tour of duty, Robbie was responsible for adding marketing and business rigour to owner David Walsh’s free-wheeling cultural enterprise, whilst simultaneously growing its reputation for creativity and risk-taking. Robbie’s pitch to David back in 2016 was that if creativity and risk are the essence of Mona then that philosophy should be reflected in the marketing as well. David foolishly agreed, and much fun and success followed.
Before joining Mona, Robbie spent 17 years working his way around the world as a Creative Director for the likes of Saatchi & Saatchi, BBDO, Y&R and DDB.
Robbie lives in Hobart with his young family and is dedicated to growing the state’s creative and marketing reputation. He also surfs (a lot) and is a world authority on scallop pies.
