With over 15 years of global marketing experience, Lindene Cleary has built a career on championing bold, differentiated brand work that connects with consumers and delivers real commercial impact. A challenger at heart, she thrives on crafting strategies that cut through, inspiring teams to push creative boundaries and bring big ideas to life.
Now leading the charge in Tasmania’s tourism marketing, Cleary has helped shape compelling campaigns like Come Down For Air and The Off Season, positioning the island as an immersive and rejuvenating destination.
CMOs to Watch, presented by Zenith, spotlights the visionaries leading the charge. This series delves into the strategies and perspectives of CMOs who are setting new standards, pushing boundaries, and driving impact in ways that redefine what it means to be a leader in marketing today.
Let’s dive in!
B&T: What three things would you take to a desert island?
Cleary: My family, a stack of books, and Tasmanian sparkling wine.
B&T: Favourite album, movie and book?
Cleary: I don’t have favourites, there are too many good things in the world to name only one. But as a stab…
- Album: Bon Iver, ‘For Emma, Forever Ago’
- Movie: my movie repertoire at the moment is mostly whatever my kids are happy to watch with me – I love ‘Barbie’ (probably more than my kids do, just quietly) and we’ve been working our way through some old classics like ‘Back to the Future’.
- Book: ‘A Little Life’ by Hanya Yanagihara. Devastating.
B&T: What is your passion outside of work? (Think hobbies, sports, etc) and please send us a photo of you doing it!
Cleary: Exploring Tassie with my family. It’s fair to say my girls don’t love bushwalking, which is karma at its best (sorry, Mum and Dad), but anything involving the beach or nature, plus good food, are top of my weekend list.
B&T: If you weren’t a CMO, what would you be doing?
Cleary: What everyone dreams of doing but never does: combining all my favourite things into a completely impractical business model such as a bookshop/wine bar/sauna and ice bath yoga retreat. It’s a winner.
B&T: What was your favourite campaign of all time?
Cleary: Again, tough to name just one. The Australian ALDI work is always great, especially ‘supermarket polygamy’ for a recent example. An oldie but a goodie for me is definitely Old Spice ‘The man your man could smell like’. Such a fun, offbeat way to revive a stale brand, achieving the kind of virality that most only dream of.
B&T: Now let’s talk shop. What is your brand’s top priority for the next 12 months?
Cleary: Continuing to build long term demand through differentiated brand work that helps people really feel what it’s like to be in Tasmania. At the same time, striking the right balance of brand building with conversion driving for our tourism industry operators, especially during the cooler months, or what we call the ‘Off Season’.
B&T: What channel is exciting you the most and how do you split your marketing budgets between long/short and channels mix?
Cleary: I get excited by creativity first, so I guess by default the ‘traditional’ channels of TV, cinema, video, and out of home are my happy places. We place a strong focus on long term brand building, with a healthy allocation to lead generation and conversion. Bearing in mind we don’t directly convert sales or bookings, but we do work hard to nurture visitors and prospective visitors through our digital ecosystem. High quality, emotive written content is hugely important for us, via our owned channels but also earned media.
B&T: What is the biggest challenge you currently face in the marketplace?
Cleary: Cost of living pressures are making things tough for our tourism industry operators. While many people are still travelling, the majority are looking for ways to save money while doing so.
B&T: What campaign are you most proud of?
Cleary: Can I have two? I love our Come Down For Air launch work from 2019 because it differentiated Tasmania in a whole new way, and we continue to work on bringing freshness to the platform. And I’m proud of our Off Season work for similar reasons, but mainly because we had the courage to own the perceived negatives of winter. In black and white.
B&T: Where do you see yourself in five years time?
Cleary: Hopefully still loving life in Tassie, contributing to my home state that’s given me so much, and providing my girls with a version of the childhood I was lucky to have (but didn’t know it at the time).
B&T: Zenith is the presenting partner of B&T’s CMOs to Watch list. The agency takes a predictive view when it comes to industry perspectives. They’d like to know your prediction for marketing in the next 12 months
Cleary: While I keep one eye on marketing predictions and trends, I think the job to be done is different for every company, and you need to do the right thing for your brand at the time. Of course, generative AI is shaking things up and I think there’s a place for it in creating efficiencies in churning out mass work, and sparking first thoughts, but I don’t think it replaces original, differentiated, human creativity. Of course, AI is changing the game in travel when it comes to distribution and bookings, and we’re monitoring what that could mean for our industry.
Check out the other instalments in the CMOs To Watch series here:
- CMOs To Watch, Presented By Zenith: Lisa Little-Cain On Bushwalks, Big Ideas & Brand Brilliance At Aldi
- CMOs To Watch, Presented By Zenith: How Shad Haehae Is Raising The Marketing Bar & Raising His Daughter Along The Way
- CMOs To Watch, Presented By Zenith: Super Mum & Coles Super Marketer, Alex Piercy
- CMOs To Watch, Presented By Zenith: Telstra’s Alita McMenamin On Brand, Balance & The Power Of Family
- CMOs To Watch, Presented By Zenith: 28 Group’s Tim White On Storytelling, Social Media & Sport
- CMOs To Watch, Presented By Zenith: Meet Zach Kitschke, Full Time Canva CMO, Part Time Snowboarding Superstar
- CMOs To Watch, Presented By Zenith: Meet Peita Golden, Telco Marketing Boss, Footy Fanatic & Future Pub Owner
- CMOs To Watch, Presented By Zenith: Peter Chapman On Driving Reflections Holidays’ Brand Transformation & Reimagining Camping
- CMOs To Watch, Presented By Zenith: Gardening & Dinner Parties, How Vinyl Group’s Alli Galloway Finds Peace Outside Of The Roaring Live Music Scene
- CMO’s To Watch, Presented By Zenith: The Little Joys Behind Michelle Rowling’s Thrilling Life At Luna Park
- CMOs To Watch, Presented By Zenith: Hawthorn FC’s Dan Hamer’s Next Big Partnership
- CMOs To Watch, Presented By Zenith: DrinkWise’s Part Time Builder, Part Time Marketer, Nathan Kent
- CMOs To Watch, Presented By Zenith: Mountain Culture’s Out Of This World Bradley Firth
