Taylor Fielding, CEO of tfm.digital files his second diary entry from Cairns Crocodiles, presented by Pinterest. Here’s everything he got up to.
Up at 5am for my daily yoga…nah not really. But we did make it out by 7am for a walk to clear our heads, and we weren’t alone. The IMAA walking group was out in force, with Jules Lund’s Tribe one of many WhatsApp groups up early.
A converted Bunning Warehouse was the venue (Screen QLD’s new regional home). Cherry Red the theme. And with helpings of nostalgia, Pinterest’s Opening Party, left many of us reliving our youth, with some serious Boiler Room vibes. MoS (Ministry of Sound) DJs played throughout the night and drew sales execs from every corner – those who usually wouldn’t be caught dead on the dancefloor, became n-trance’d as the music seemingly set them free.
Big Ideas can inspire change in our world
The standout speaker so far has to be David Ohana, who closed the session with all of his kids on stage, demanding more from us all. Utterly compelling. From record-breaking campaigns, bringing Beyonce to tears, through to working on a video that has changed parenting for many, the Chief Communications and Marketing Office at United Nations Foundation (UNF) spoke with such verve and simplicity it had many industry folks taking notes (literally).
A billion social mentions is a wild target, even for a globally recognised brand like UN. But that was his target for its new aggregated social platform Thunderclap. There are so many world awareness days in 2025, but it was a less trodden path when #WorldHumanitarianDay started. Commemorating those who had lost their lives at UN office in Baghdad in 2003 terrorist attack, the day has grown to highlight the people who risk their lives trying to improve others’. Beyonce was one of the key early advocates, and upon hearing the son of one of those who lost their lives in the attacks was in the audience, began tearing up when singing her donated song “I was here”.
Fast forward to today and the UN team is continually trying to reach its audience in different ways. Realising Gen Z is unlikely to watch a live videocast from its annual World Humanitarian Day event, David displayed the falafel van that provided the backdrop for 15 second soundbites from TikTok influencers they involved in the project.
Attention is precious and how to best achieve it changes…
For example headlines were made when adjacent project ThriveByFive put forward Molly Wright as the youngest ever TED Talk presenter. A simple idea, of how parents need to disconnect from their phones and invest more face to face time with young kids a – it connected on a deeper level when delivered by a word perfect 7-year old. Now nurses, including his own midwife, demand this video is watched before handing over newborns to first-time parents.
And the resounding point was that you don’t need to have huge investment to create an idea that makes an impact.
It’s why we come, to spark innovation like this, and for the TFM team we’re all discussing how we can make a difference to our local area for 2025’s World Humanitarian Day on 19th August.
Evolving with your audience
Making an impact takes many forms. Global Creative VP, Xanthe Wells from Pinterest, spoke about the challenge of repositioning the brand from suburban mums to a platform of intrigue and wonder for Gen Z. No longer the destination solely for recipes it wanted to embolden its users, as it did when conceived as a virtual board of inspiration, replacing the four walls of your bedroom, where iconic posters would hang.
That was the model and the connection for how it started. Good lessons for any brand looking to remain relevant with their audience.
Between doom-scrolling, the anxious generation and platforms that make you wish you were doing more, Pinterest has tried to differentiate itself by becoming ‘the positivity corner of the internet’. 10 minutes can improve your mood, and after hearing about the way people use it for bucket lists, travel and dream renovations, I believe her.
One for the team
Another inspirational element to our day came by way of Jessica Miles, ANZ Country Manager for Integral Ad Science – her insights were delivered with panache, over another IMAA lunch session, during which she unexpectedly gave a TFM Digital case study on closing the loop from Click to Conversion, using IAS’s latest ad fraud product. Hopefully it acts as encouragement for other indies to use the platform, as we’ve seen improved results up to 96 per cent.
It feels like the theme from today has been how to continually adapt the way you do things, finding new ways to connect with audiences as they find new ways of connecting with media.
Guest reporting by Taylor Fielding, CEO of TFM Digital.
