5 Minutes with... Nicole Flinton-Ferraro

Nicole Flinton-Ferraro is the chief experience officer at Australian advertising agency Howatson+Company, and uses her expertise in CX, tech and data in Melbourne, where the agency's technology and media 'centres of excellences' are housed. Not originally coming from a traditional agency background, she brings together a host of skills from working on UX and CX from the brand side before finding her groove in the world of mar-tech.

Previous to joining Howatson+Company, she helped brands like Bupa and AGL scale personalisation programmes as part of their marketing teams, before becoming the chief experience officer at CHEP for three years, where she led the CX, UX and service design teams. Her most influential client experience during this time was as the strategic lead on the Samsung account, something she describes as 'defining her career' as both a leader and a planner.

Now settled into her new role after joining Howatson+Company earlier this year, LBB's Ben Conway caught up with Nicole, in association with Adobe, to discuss her career so far, how CX and UX design has changed in a world of personalisation, and how the most successful brands are using new technologies to connect with their audiences.

LBB> What creative content inspired or interested you most when you were growing up? Do any TV shows, films and ads stand out to you?

Nicole> My content consumption has always been diverse, even as a little kid. There’s the whimsical side that got swept away in the storytelling; think 'Bewitched', Disney and the classics (the Frank Sinatra, Doris Day, Cary Grant era). Then there’s the curious side that wanted to understand systems and structure; think 'Law & Order' and 'The Sopranos'. 

It's a tough call, but '90s ads hit different – so many memorable classics. Three stand out for me:

- The Smiths 'Chippies' ads (Just the other day someone in the agency was doing their best 'Gobbledock' haha). 

- Yellow Pages, 'Goggomobil'

- Yoplait, 'Petit Miam'

LBB> How did you enter the ad industry? And what was the most important lesson/piece of advice you received early on? How does it influence you and your work today?

Nicole> I don’t have the traditional agency upbringing. I worked client-side mostly, it wasn’t until a GC-based digital agency brought me in and taught me the world of mar-tech that I found my groove. I remember we worked on a tourism client, bringing all the regions websites together on a single platform, unifying the CX and UX – and I knew, this was me. Since then, I have had the privilege of working on, or for, some of Australia’s leading brands, always with a focus on CX and the role tech and data play in enabling it. 

A great piece of advice I’ve received was from an old boss of mine, he once told me to have grace under fire. Seems simple, but in those moments when the deadlines are tight, the pressure is on, the expectations are high – it’s so easy to forget. The way we handle ourselves under pressure can make all the difference, for you and those around you. 

The most important lesson I have learnt is to give a fuck about what you do. Because if you don’t, you’re doing the wrong thing. Work takes up too much of your life to not enjoy it. To not want to go, to not find joy in it. There will always be hard days, but if you genuinely care about what you’re doing – even those days aren’t that bad.  

LBB> You joined Howatson+Company earlier this year - what inspired this decision? And what have been some of your early goals with the team? Have you achieved any of these yet?

Nicole> That’s easy – Howie. Coming into H+Co, the team were already doing brilliant work in the CX space. The goal has been to continue and scale those efforts. My focus has been on building relationships with our clients to understand their business and customer needs to find the moments of greatest opportunity to drive value (for the business and the customer). 

I’ve been blown away with the ambition of our clients and the trust in our partnerships, we are doing amazing work that I am very proud of. 

LBB> In terms of CX and UX strategy, how does your philosophy align with Howatson+Company’s existing processes and team? And equally, what new or contrasting perspectives have you brought to the table?

Nicole> Essentially, it’s about keeping it simple. Removing friction and connecting moments to create conversations overtime. I don’t personally believe in a purist approach, it's simply not realistic. Very few organisations have the resources (budget and people) or time for months of immersion and a drawn-out design thinking process. It’s not about cutting corners; it’s about making the methodologies work harder. Being deliberate and selective in where we invest our efforts. A core focus of mine is working on ways to adapt and flex our approach to best support our clients’ needs as the realities of the current economic climate impact marketing budgets and priorities. Things like service design have traditionally been long and expensive projects, our philosophy is about making the methodologies accessible, scalable and most importantly – executional.   

LBB> As personalised experiences become increasingly important, how has your work in the CX, UX and service design areas changed? What are some of the biggest challenges facing CXOs today? 

Nicole> If advertising is what you say, then experience is what you do. And in today’s context, that is more important than ever. We’ve all seen the slides that talk about how Apple, Uber and Spotify completely redefined consumers expectations on the way all brands engage with their customers, and it’s true. As products and services become more omni-channel than ever, providing your customers with a unified, simple, connected experience is the key to winning -in any industry. Consumers are ruthless when it comes to CX, they are growing more accustomed to preference centres and the data value exchange. They know what good CX looks feels like, and that’s what they expect. We are seeing more and more brands acknowledge this and prioritise how they convert, engage, and retain their customers across channels through experience; to drive growth and loyalty. 

The other challenge we continue to see clients facing is how they accelerate benefits realisation on the hefty mar-tech investments made over the last few years. We so often see best-in-breed tech sending out a handful of basic comms in a single channel. A lot of businesses have the right tech, but not the internal people and process capability to absorb the technical capability. I really enjoy working with organisations to look at their experience, tech, data, people and process holistically so that we can close the gaps and drive incremental growth (from a revenue and people perspective). 

LBB> During your prior time as CXO at CHEP, you led the strategy on Samsung - how did that experience influence your leadership and strategy skills for CX and UX?

Nicole> Working with Samsung was one of the most career defining things I have ever done. I learnt a lot about myself as a leader and a planner. 

Samsung are obviously a globally led brand, which means that in a lot of cases the ability to make local changes was complicated. With multiple verticals, global and local stakeholders, and big targets, we had to be able to shift from macro to micro on a dime. As their first ever full-service agency, we needed to consider and understand every discipline, every touchpoint and every objective. It was crucial to understand not only the need of each brief but how it all laddered up, how the customer experience would co-exist with all the other work in market. The saying ‘right message, right channel, right investment, right time’ had never been so relevant. 

The experience absolutely influenced my skills. It made me a more empathetic leader, a broader planner and gave me invaluable experience designing best-in-class CX and UX on one of the world’s biggest brands. I am very grateful for that opportunity.  

LBB> How are the most successful brands connecting with their customers today? Are there any strategies, technologies or approaches that are making waves right now?

Nicole> It blows my mind that there are still shoes I looked at once (or worse still, already purchased) chasing me around the internet. The brands that are doing well are the ones using customer data and tech in a way that adds genuine value and make things easier. Live preference centres connected to single customer profiles with next best actions being executed across channels – gold star. 

LBB> Outside of work, what do you do to decompress? What motivates you in work and at home?

Nicole> I am a big believer in self-care (not as easy as it once was, now I have a one-year-old in toe). I like to put on some good tunes, get a massage, cook up a feast or get my body moving. Anything that turns down the mental noise and allows me to be present, in the moment.  

I’m motivated by curiosity, in life and work. My energy cup gets filled by being surrounded by smart, diverse, interesting people who teach me something new every day. I love the idea of trying new things and having a crack.