Remarkable Marketers: Meet NOVA Entertainment’s Tony Thomas

There are some pretty remarkable people in our industry, each offering their own unique perspective to adland.

While we spend so much time learning about our peers’ career highlights, B&T, in partnership with Carat Australia, thought it high time to dig a little deeper, and find out what makes the shining stars of our industry tick and, at times, tock.

So, we’ve recently published – and are continuing to publish – a series of personal profiles.

Get ready to laugh, cry and be taken on an emotional rollercoaster as we hear more about the industry’s most remarkable marketers.

NOVA Entertainment’s chief marketing and digital officer, Tony Thomas: The truckin’ caterpillar

I wanted to be a truck driver right up until I was 16, and I’m talking big, semi-trailers. I grew up on a farm and liked big machines. Trucks were something I could see myself driving around in the future. However, if I wasn’t a marketer, I’d be a guitarist in a rock band… if I wasn’t musically illiterate.

My all-time favourite hero was Kurt Cobain. I’m a huge Nirvana fan, and he carried the hopes and dreams of everyone who was down and out during his time, and gave them confidence that they could make something of themselves. Obviously, it didn’t end very well for Kurt, but I really bought into everything he was about and I even tried to look like him when I was in my early 20s.

I’m also a big fan of Milli Vanilli. Even though they were completely fraudulent, something about them really grabbed me. I kind of liked how they were able to pull the rug over everyone’s eyes.

The worst holiday I’ve ever been on was to Daydream Island. I wasn’t a fan of the super-sized papier mâché sea animals as you walk in, I got food poisoning, the weather was terrible, and to top it off, a fire alarm went off at 3am one morning. It was terrible.

When I was working at Diageo, I launched a product called Smirnoff Baltic, which was your pre-dated Smirnoff Ice – the first male-targeted vodka ready to drink. It was a complete and utter failure. My learning from that was to trust my gut rather than the research.

One piece of technology that I simply don’t get is my stove. I can never make it work and it’s never delivered a product that anyone finds edible. In saying that though, anything I cook myself is usually pretty regrettable to eat.

My party trick is ‘The Caterpillar’ dance move. I actually pulled it out at my wedding, but now if I try it, there’s usually major knee, elbow and chin injuries that follow.

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Carat carat australia Nova Entertainment remarkable marketers Tony Thomas