From innovation to education: Simone Blakers on keeping marketers ahead of the curve

In the first edition of ADMA’s new Education Spotlight, LiquidCX’s Simone Blakers reflects on a career of world-first campaigns, shares the lessons she’s learned from leading teams across digital innovation and reveals why continuous learning is essential for marketers today.

To start, could you share a little about your career to date?

I started as a direct marketer more than 30 years ago, and at the beginning of my career, I actually worked with ADMA.

At the time, there were just three of us and we only had one computer in the whole office. But it gave me the opportunity to work on some of ADMA’s education products, complete the education courses, partner with industry specialists and just learn everything I could.

As the dot-com boom happened I moved agency-side and had the opportunity to follow the rise of digital and innovation.

Throughout my career, I've worked on many world-firsts. I had the opportunity to launch NineMSN in Australia, which was the first global instance of an ad-funded internet model. In London, I led the launch of the world’s first smartphone for Microsoft, and then returned home to work with Google on a number of campaigns for Chrome, voice search and YouTube.

The trend of my career is that I was always following the rise of innovation. So when e-commerce became a thing, I was helping brands sell online for the first time, connect with audiences via social media, create unique customer experiences by building digital platforms or transform operations through automation.

Eight years ago, I took the opportunity of a redundancy to start two businesses - my own consultancy called LiquidCX and an eco-friendly pet business called Furbubba. These days, my time is spent working with brands on their digital transformation and helping them unlock the use of data and technology.

What have been some of the professional highlights along the journey so far?

Working on world-first campaigns, like those I just mentioned, are so exciting because no one's done it before. You've got to learn on the job and figure it out as you go.

But the biggest highlight was a collaboration between YouTube, Sydney Opera House and Vivid Sydney. We created the world’s first controllable live stream within YouTube ad units. From a technology perspective, it was really innovative and a global first for Google. It was probably the most intense project I ever worked on - as it was a live event you didn’t get a second chance, so we had to nail it. But, it was also very fulfilling.

The second highlight would have to be leading teams of super talented people. In my last agency environment, I ran a social media business for Mediabrands and my team knew way more about Social than me because they lived and breathed it, whereas I was an old timer having to adapt and learn the technology.

I just loved learning from them. It’s a wonderful privilege to learn from people of all ages and all types.

How did you get into the education space and what have you learned from it?

There was a nice closing of the loop for me as I worked in ADMA’s education space early in my career and then once I became an independent consultant, I had time to give back to the industry. Since reconnecting with ADMA, I have been able to write and deliver many of the courses ADMA runs.

What I’ve learned from being an extension of ADMA’s education team is how people learn in different ways. Whenever you're delivering a course, it's really important to understand the content well enough that you can deliver the information in ways that make sense to individual learning styles. For me, I’m a visual learner - so if I can actually draw a concept that helps me articulate it to others.

I also love that I get to learn from the peer-to-peer conversations between students as well as our guest speakers, who come and bring their real world case studies.

What do you enjoy most about marketer education?

That it is always changing. Let's take AI as an example - you have to be curious as it is changing so rapidly and there is always something to learn.

From a marketing perspective, the ethical use of data and AI is crucial. We all play a part in shaping what the future is because businesses are just people making decisions. I believe everybody should take individual accountability around the responsible use of data and technology.

The more AI-literate and knowledgeable marketers become, then the more capable they are of making informed decisions that go beyond compliance and shape best practice.

What’s one marketing skill or principle you think will never go out of style, no matter how much the industry changes?

You've got to meet customer needs. You can have all the technology and data smarts in the world, but if you’re not meeting customer needs, it doesn't matter. Strategic grounding in customer needs is never going to change.

Marketing is evolving fast. Which skills do you think are most critical for marketers to invest in today?

AI has been part of marketing for many years in terms of predictive modelling and machine learning. Many marketers are already very comfortable in this space. However, generative AI is quite different and it demands marketers upskill themselves to stay up to speed.

As we collaborate more with AI in our workflows, we also need to upskill in other areas. AI agents will take on certain functions, and as humans overseeing the outputs of AI teammates, we need to increase our critical thinking skills as well as our empathy. These are skills we need to master in order to responsibly use generative AI.

What are the biggest challenges you see for marketers trying to keep up with the pace of change in digital and data?

What I observe are many marketers sticking to familiar ways of doing things, because that’s what has worked for them in the past. In Innovation practices, we call this the “path of dependency”.

However, as the world changes, it’s important to test new methods to reach your audiences. Or to test new working practices that will unlock efficiencies. Innovation isn’t just about having the right data or technology - it also requires the right mindset. If people are fearful of AI or worried about how change might affect their roles, that mindset can be a major barrier for businesses. And shifting fear often comes through education.

Continuous skills development is also critical, especially with innovations like AI, which evolve so quickly that you can’t just ‘binge learn’ them. Trying to absorb everything at once is overwhelming. But if people have been learning incrementally over their careers, adapting to new tools and testing new approaches, it becomes much easier to keep up.

Why do you think continuous learning is so important?

In a world where digital and technology are constantly changing, being able to experiment, fail fast and continuously apply what you learn is just as important as formal, academic learning.

The challenge is that if marketers stay stuck in their old ways and only adapt when forced by disruption, the mental load of trying to learn everything at once is too heavy. That’s why ongoing, practical learning is so important. 

In some of our courses, we teach a “70/20/10” approach: 70% of your budget goes to tried-and-tested methods, 20% to new ideas worth exploring and 10% to experiments that can fail safely. That 10% is really important in a world where things change fast, because it gives you license to play with new technology and concepts.

What role do organisations like ADMA play in shaping the next generation of marketing talent?

I see ADMA as playing a really critical role in defining the future capabilities of marketers and aligning education programs to the needs of the CMO. They’re also creating skill pathways for the workforce transition during this time of AI disruption and equipping the next generation of marketers with the strategic foundations that remain unchanging.  

What’s the best piece of professional or life advice you’ve ever received - and how has it shaped your approach?

One of the best pieces of professional advice I’ve received actually came from my husband. In the fast-paced, high-pressure world of innovation, where you’re constantly facing complex challenges, his advice was simple: ‘the more intense it gets, the slower you should go’.

It feels counterintuitive - you want to push harder, work longer, move faster - but slowing down gives you the space to breathe and the mental capacity to solve problems more effectively.

And finally, what do you enjoy doing outside of work?

The thing I enjoy most is eating - cooking, going to restaurants, anything to do with food really! I also have to balance that out with doing yoga, pilates and bushwalking.