In the first episode of Uber Advertising’s new video series ‘Moments with Marketers… in Uber Rides’, Tourism Australia CMO Susan Coghill reveals her first meeting with Steve Jobs, resurrecting Neighbours and how to make the most of big and small moments for customers.
What happens when you put some of the country’s top marketing leaders in the back of an Uber and ask them to reflect on their greatest marketing lessons?
That’s the premise behind Moments with Marketers… in Uber Rides, a new video series from Uber Advertising that launched today at Cairns Crocodiles.
Kicking things off with candour and a good dose of creative conviction was Susan Coghill, CMO of Tourism Australia, who joined Uber’s Head of Advertising ANZ, Michael Levine, for a wide-ranging conversation in the back seat.
The series explores what it takes to build great brands in a fragmented and fast-changing media landscape.
Early in her career, Coghill worked at TBWA/Chiat/Day as a “junior berger” on the now-iconic ‘Think Different’ campaign for Apple – a formative moment that shaped her approach to creativity, storytelling and strategic clarity.
This meant having regular contact with iconic Apple CEO Steve Jobs at the time he was rebooting what was then an ailing computer company, in his own inimitable style.
She recalls her first meeting where she was tasked with bringing Jobs’ treatments for some creative work: “I was trying to keep it all low key. And Steve comes around the corner, and he’s like, ‘You must be Susan! Come on, let’s go look at the work.’ Cut to me on the beach, going through the creative work with Steve Jobs, asking my opinion. This little young twentysomething with no real experience it was absolutely incredible.”
As it turns out, Jobs was not the only marketing genius on the beach that day, with Coghill’s career featuring a glittering array of campaign moments any CMO would be proud of, including the cinematic ‘Come and Say G’day’ film and the iconic ‘Dundee’ campaign.
Coghill joined Tourism Australia in 2017, leading the creative development of campaigns like ‘Undiscover Australia’. In 2019, she was promoted to CMO, overseeing global campaigns such as ‘Matesong’ featuring Kylie Minogue and ‘Holiday Here This Year’ – a critical domestic pivot during COVID.
And while Tourism Australia is known for its blockbuster campaigns, Coghill is equally proud of the smaller, more niche moments that strike a cultural chord. One example? A farewell to Neighbours when the show went off the air in the UK.
She shares: “We got access to some of Fremantle’s footage and we edited it into a version of the campaign that we were running in the UK at the time. It was a special farewell Neighbours edit that closed out with an invitation to the British audience – inviting them to come down and say ‘G’day’.”
In the end, it all comes down to choosing the right moment and showing up in a way that’s both meaningful and memorable. As Coghill makes clear, the right moment – paired with the right idea – can spark something incredible.
She says: “You’ve got to have the combination of the audience, relevance to the brand, media moments, and the creative idea to make sure you’re igniting a conversation.”
You can watch the full episode of ‘Moments with Marketers… in Uber Rides’ on B&T’s YouTube channel, with more episodes rolling out soon. The series was created by Uber Advertising.
Catch Susan’s episode now and stay tuned for upcoming interviews including Dan Lacaze (General Manager, Retail Marketing & Merchandising at Telstra) and Caroline Hugall (Chief Strategy Officer, Spark Foundry).
