A veritable who’s who of Australian media execs gathered yesterday for the first Compadres Futures event.
Hosted by Burcham and Nine CMO, Liana Dubois at Nine’s offices on Wednesday, the invite-only Compadres Futures event saw like-minded CEOs, marketing executives and founders unite for a two-hour exploration of the FY25 challenges and opportunities across areas including politics, AI, sustainability, retail, marketing and advertising, media and entertainment, housing, banking, travel, work and more.
During the presentation, John Batistich, non-executive director for Zip Co, Foodco, APG&Co, Versa Connects and Sunnyfield and Board Advisor to Moose Toys and Ksubi International, shared his extensive research on the trends and forecasts for the next 12-18 months.
According to Batistich, overall we can expect a better FY25. Headwinds such as weak consumer confidence, high fuel/energy/insurance costs, housing affordability, labour shortages and new global competitors such as Shein and Temu now exceed tailwinds, which include inflation moderating, interest rate cuts, tax cuts from July 1, low unemployment, cashed up homeowners spending, population growth and AI driven productivity (please see below for further insights).
Compadres Futures with John Bastitch was the first event of its kind, but Compadres Founder Clive Burcham is looking ahead to them becoming a regular highlight on the business calendar:
“Following the success of today, it is not lost on me that there is really no better way to achieve success and community than to gather incredible people together in a room to network, learn, absorb and be inspired.
It was an honour to have John lead the charge for our first event; one of the best minds in business and a great leader who can see around corners. He has a clear view on the near future, which by sharing with other Compadres, can only help guide them in their present decision making, to mitigate risks and direct innovation” he continued.
The unique approach and methodology behind Compadres lies in Burcham’s decades of lived experience in work and life – the successes, the failures and everything in between, and in 2024, Compadres has already started to make headwaves. One Compadre’s business has already reported a 150% increase in profit year on year since joining the program with another business doubling its revenue from $20-40 million.
Burcham said: “Compadres is a partnership for change, designed through coaching, mentoring and business advisory to interrupt life and unpack business as usual; influencing positive risk taking behaviours and identifying the most impactful problems to solve. You can expect an unconventional ride and an unconventional approach. Such is life! Compadres coaching and mentoring has a unique axis. It has been developed, tested and tried over my many years of doing business – sweat, tears and triumphs, losses and life changing successes have been distilled into humble learnings.”
With three parts to the process, Burcham works individually with each Compadre to nurture the leader, understanding and working through all aspects of their life, blockages, habits, vision, values and goals; to elevate the leader and the business, looking at goals, products, client and customer relationships, partnerships, planning, marketing, networks and more; and to inspire, educate and problem solve collectively through the Compadres “Campfire” community, which also provides an opportunity for complementary Compadres and their businesses to collaborate on commercial projects.
