ADMA at SXSW Sydney: Leadership, trust and the future of responsible marketing

ADMA returned to SXSW Sydney this year with a series of high-energy sessions that put the future of marketing leadership, privacy and ethics in the spotlight.

With an afternoon takeover at Clear Hayes House and a workshop in SXSW Sydney’s main conference track, more than 300 marketers joined ADMA to explore what it really takes to lead with resilience, earn consumer trust and navigate the complexities of Australia’s privacy landscape.

If you missed it, or would just like to jog your memory, here are the key takeaways from these sessions.

Ask Me Anything: The Marketing Career Edition

Moderated by Kennards Hire’s Manelle Merhi, this session set out to unpack the honest stories of what it takes to succeed in your career - without the glossy headlines.

Joined by Lucinda Barlow (Uber), Lucio Ribeiro (TBWA\Australia) and Joanne Smith (Blackmores Group), the panel explored career missteps, burnout, imposter syndrome and the leadership lessons they wish they’d learned earlier.

For Ribeiro, a key lesson he has learnt over his career was born from rejection, as he recalled how being turned down for an agency role pushed him to start his own business.

He shares: “If you don’t like the door you’re knocking on, build another door. Don’t necessarily believe that you can simply pursue the thing you love. In my case, I built my agency because there was a lack of options - 12 years later, it grew into a $15 million business.” 

Burnout was one key issue the panellists addressed, with Barlow, who manages marketing teams in dozens of countries over multiple timezones for Uber, urging marketers to manage their own energy and stay grounded as a way to manage it.

She explains that she has her own formula that she asks herself once she begins to feel the tell-tale signs of burnout: “I always interrogate myself: am I having fun, making an impact, learning and truly enjoying the life that I want to lead? Things are going to be hard, but do it together and with strong energy.”

Smith built on that insight, reminding the room that longevity matters more than linear progression: “Careers are long and not linear. Protecting your boundaries - your health, happiness and energy - is vital. Your career should never be the reason you burn out.”

Merhi also touched on imposter syndrome as something most professionals will experience at some stage of their career. She advises: “There’s a strong emotional aspect to imposter syndrome but you can invalidate the emotion with data. Find demonstrated examples of what you’ve delivered in your career to short circuit that feeling.

“Sometimes you need to walk with fear, so you can build your courage and come out the other side.”

The Compliance Quiz: What Would You Do?

ADMA CEO Andrea Martens brought together Sarla Fernando, ADMA’s Deputy Chair of Regulatory and Advocacy Working Group and Kate Friedrich, Head of Legal, Cyber, Data and Privacy at Qantas Group, in a panel exploring how marketing and privacy can coexist without killing creativity.

Martens explains: “The difference between a powerful campaign and a privacy problem isn't creativity - it’s trust. Rather than seeing compliance as a blocker to innovation, think of it as the framework that keeps creativity and consumer protection in balance.”

Fernando acknowledged that there is a lack of clarity around Australia’s privacy law framework. She explains: “You’ve got the Spam Act, the Do Not Call Register, Consumer Law, cybersecurity, employment law - all of it intersects when you’re running a campaign.

“I can imagine that’s not exactly why marketers took this up as a career, right? It can get really difficult.”

Friedrich echoed that sentiment, reassuring the audience that while the rules can appear intricate, they’re not designed to be impossible. 

She says: “Compliance and transparency can build trust, but from a legal perspective, a common misconception is that it’s overly complex. If you link back to principles-based legislation, put yourself in the consumer’s place, you'll get it right most of the time.”

The session also brought the audience into the conversation, with an interactive quiz testing marketers on what constitutes compliant data use in common campaign scenarios. It proved that even seasoned professionals can struggle to navigate grey areas - especially as technology continues to evolve.

AI usage was a key talking point, with Martens noting a growing disconnect between the pace of innovation and the privacy considerations marketers apply to it. “It’s interesting how the connection of AI and privacy doesn’t come to a marketer’s mind as naturally as I would have expected, particularly when we think about the algorithms that are being used to anticipate consumer behaviour."

Friedrich added a word of caution around AI vendors and third-party tools. “You need to do thorough due diligence on your vendors. While a contract might say they take certain steps, it always comes down to the actual utilisation of the technology and your campaign.”

“You can’t just tell your compliance team, ‘We plan to use AI’. That’s not enough. What you need to do is put use cases into play and really think about how your campaign would work, what could be the outcome and is AI required for the data involved?” adds Fernando.

Navigating the Privacy Minefield: A Marketer’s Essential Playbook

In a follow-up workshop at SXSW Sydney, Sarla Fernando and Kate Friedrich teamed up with Greer Harris, Group Chief Privacy Officer at Commonwealth Bank, to take marketers deeper into the evolving landscape of privacy reform and ethical data practice.

Fernando set the scene by reminding marketers compliance shouldn’t be just a box-ticking exercise, but should be regarded as a growth driver.

She says: “Brands that lead in privacy compliance will drive a competitive edge. Consent-based data collection will improve the data quality you have and privacy provides a framework that reduces your business’ legal and financial risk. 

“As exciting as AI is, it must be used responsibly, otherwise you will lose consumer trust. Data is the fuel, AI is the engine and privacy is the guardrail.”

The workshop walked through real-world scenarios, from location-based targeting to facial recognition and children’s data, highlighting how collaboration between marketing, legal and tech teams can prevent campaigns from crossing the line. 

Oftentimes, the lines between the three teams became blurry - with Friedrich advising the audience to start any new campaign with clarity and focus to navigate the complexities.

She expands: “There are principles under the current Privacy Act that require you get rid of data, so think about data minimalisation. Be clear about whether you have a use for all the data you have and get rid of anything you don't need. 

“Once you have a more refined data set, you can start to think about what products you might build or how to use that data for personalisation or cut-through. Be laser focused.”

Harris, who has spent more than two decades in privacy, urged marketers to think beyond compliance to the ethical implications of AI-driven marketing: “One of the greatest privacy risks is AI inferring new personal information - particularly sensitive information such as health data. Once that happens, your privacy obligations are immediately engaged. 
 

“If it is sensitive, you need to obtain individual consent. That’s a really tricky position to be in.”

As the session closed, Fernando reframed reform as an opportunity, not a constraint. 

She explains: “Privacy reform is giving us an amnesty - a chance to clean up data practices and build maturity. Champion privacy by design, ask privacy questions for every campaign, include privacy goals in your KPIs and collaborate early and often.”

Missed ADMA at SXSW Sydney? You’re in luck - the Clear Hayes House sessions Ask Me Anything and The Compliance Quiz were recorded and are available to watch for a limited time.