Your ATTN Please | Friday, 15 August

You’ve conquered 1 market (yay!) and now it’s time to expand.

You’re ready to take your brand to new audiences. Sooo, what’s your first move? Because copy/pasting your strategy probably isn’t it (or shouldn’t be, anyway). Well, turns out we’re in the process of expanding the Attention Seeker brand to Australia. So today, we’re sharing our strategy for taking on Australia so you can steal our world-domination plan of attack for your brand, too.

- Charlotte Ellis, Editor ♡

Building your personal brand is the best way to future-proof your career (now more than ever).

The problem is, if you don’t know what to post (and where to post it!), you’ll probably try for a few weeks, see no results, and just give up.

That’s why we’re running our next workshop on exactly how you should build your personal brand in 2025.

What you’ll learn from our founder, Stanley Henry:

👉 How to get started (even if you’ve never created content before)
👉 Why EVERYONE should be building a personal brand (yes, even you)
👉 How to create a content system (so posting doesn’t take over your life)
👉 What type of content you should create (so you can make the most impact)

This session is not about theory! You will walk away with all the tools you need to start building your personal brand right away.

Wednesday, 3 Sept | 8:30 – 10:00am NZT | $59

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN MARKETING TODAY?

Matt Rife collabs with E.L.F., Afterpay day seriously works & Gen X spends more than any other cohort

Why is Matt Rife in an E.L.F. Cosmetics campaign?

At least we’ve moved on from talking about Sydney Sweeney. My main question is: why is a cosmetics brand that's running an “Empowering Legendary Females” campaign simultaneously running another with a controversial comedian facing backlash over jokes about domestic violence? Like, comedy is comedy or whatever they say. But WHO IS THE TARGET AUDIENCE HERE?

The only thing he knows about Eyes, Lips and Face is the mountain of facial masculinisation surgery he’s had (allegedly, sorry.) Anywho. The brand has faced major scrutiny, with thousands of comments slamming the decision – some even pointing out that the budget beauty brand sells products like colour correctors and concealers - which are sometimes used to cover bruising. Sheesh. It’s a bad day to be on the marketing team at E.L.F.

Afterpay day kicked off yesterday, and so did my incessant pledge to impulse buy all the sh*t I don’t need.

No, but really. Tell me why I’ll be so steady in my budgeting mindset, and I see one freaking promo email for Afterpay Day and all of a sudden my discernment flies out the window faster than I can say “saving for Japan”???

What is the science behind this sorcery? According to Afterpay's "Afterpay Day Unlocked: 2025" report, last year's merchants saw an average 41% increase in revenue. So, clearly, the effect of that sorcery is not exclusive to me. Turns out that “sorcery” is just “dopamine” triggered by “sales psychology” and not an evil wizard in my brain that wants me to buy 2 for 1 at Sephora. Who knew.

Gen X leads global consumer spending in 2025.

This may come as a surprise, but the “forgotten generation” is quietly driving trillions (yes trillions) in consumer spending. $15.2 trillion worldwide this year, to be exact—the highest of any generation, according to NielsenIQ. So, if you’re exclusively directing your messaging to Gen Z, you may want to think again. Read the full report here.

-Sophie Randell, Writer

DEEP DIVE

3 steps to taking your business abroad (from a founder who’s doing that right now)

So, you’re looking to take on the big, wide world.

To jump ship and take your business abroad. Expand your horizons and whatnot.

But entering a new market is fkn DAUNTING. Like, what do you meannn I’m taking my business to a whole new country, with a whole new set of customers, in a whole different algorithm, with a whole different set of cultural and consumer preferences?

Errrrrr. Yeah, just one tiny question: how tf.

Since my experience in the matter is likely the same as a third grader, I sat down with our founder, Stanley, to gain some insight, which was particularly useful considering he’s literally in the process of expanding our business to Australia right now.

If you don’t know already, we’re based in New Zealand, so “popping over” to Australia sounds easy enough in theory. Same-ish culture, similar time zones, flights shorter than most Netflix films.

But as Stanley quickly pointed out, entering a new market is not just a ctrl+c, ctrl+v of what’s worked back home. “There’s this assumption,” he told me, “that because it’s close, it’ll be simple. But every market has its own networks, its own pace, its own… unwritten rules.”

His approach? A three-pronged plan of attack. And the way he explained it made me realise these are universal moves anyone could steal, no matter where you’re trying to grow.

1. Warm them up before you arrive.

In other words, you’re going to “soft launch.” Not in a big, public way, but more like dropping hints so your name starts to feel familiar.

“I want people in Australia to have heard of us before we’re properly there,” he said. “So, you start weaving Australia into your stories, talk about it in your content, react to their news, use their examples. If you do it naturally, the algorithms push your stuff over there.”

It’s basically content flirting… getting their attention without being that person shouting “HEY LOOK AT ME” from across the street, (embarrassing, cringe, too eager.)

2. Find your people there.

Stanley is blunt on this one: “Most people think about relationships after they’ve met someone. But you actually have to build the relationship so you can meet them in the first place.”

It’s less LinkedIn spamming, more genuine curiosity. He’s been finding mutual connections, following relevant Aussie creators, chatting in comment sections… all before asking for anything. So by the time he reaches out to someone, they’ve seen his name pop up a few times, which makes “we should grab a coffee” feel a lot less random (and weird.)

3. Show up in person.

Here’s where it gets animated--nothing accelerates trust like meeting face-to-face. Even if your business is fully online, turning up shows you’re serious.

So he’s planning time on the ground, not just for official meetings, but for the casual stuff too. Things like coffee catch-ups, attending events, and showing up in the places where decisions get made informally. From the way he talks about it, this isn’t just logistics. It’s about energy. It’s sending the message: we’re here, and we care enough to be in the room.

What I always love about Stanleys approach is that it is never about changing who we are as a business. It’s about translating what we already do well into a new accent.

“The fundamentals don’t change,” he said. “If your brand works here because it solves a real problem, it’ll work there too. You just tweak the execution, so it feels like it belongs.”

“If you’ve got a fundamental human truth at the heart of your brand, you can take it anywhere.”

Your product and content can be adapted, but your brand should remain the same. Because the fundamental truth should be something so core and resonant that it cuts through borders and demographics… the thing that makes your brand make sense regardless of where you are.

If you’ve got that foundation, entering a new market stops feeling like starting from scratch. Remember: you’re not reinventing yourself; you’re translating.

Speaking of which, 99.9% of you aren’t booked in to meet up with Stanley and Jony when they touch down in Sydney next week. That seems kind of silly, don’t you think? Grab coffee with Stanley (go ahead, you know you want to!).

-Sophie Randell, Writer

TREND PLUG

"Super seriously!"

From Judge Judy’s archives, this one’s gold.

This trend comes from a case where Shaughnessy Fahy (yes, the guy in the smiley-face tie) was suing his friend over an illegal eviction. Judy already had zero patience for his slippery story, and when she ruled against him saying "I'm done, you're gone. Goodbye.", he looked stunned and asked, “Seriously?” Without missing a beat, she hit back: “Super seriously!” Bars, people, bars.

It’s the go-to soundtrack for “I’ve had it” moments. TikTokers are pairing the audio with situations where the only option left is to walk away. Like when you decide it's "no-contact time", or when someone says no to grabbing a sweet treat.

How you can jump on this trend:

To the sound, post about a situation that annoyed you SO much, you had to leave. Bonus points if you throw in a prop (slamming a notebook, pushing your chair back, closing a laptop with force).

A few ideas to get you started:

• Boss says “It’ll just take five minutes”… and it’s 4:59 PM... on a Friday

• When someone asks “Can we make it pop?” with zero other feedback

• When the client sends “one tiny change” that requires redoing the entire project

- abdel khalil, brand & marketing executive

FOR THE GROUP CHAT

😂Yap’s funniest home videos: Really Alex?!
✨Daily inspo: a little reminder of how beautiful life is
😊Soooo satisfying: Ice shattering
🍝What you should make for dinner tonight: One Pan Chicken Shawarma

ASK THE EDITOR

My best friend and I just started a wedding planning business. Just wondering how we're meant to find time to create content when it's just the two of us? - Charlie

Hey Charlie!

This is such a common struggle for small businesses, and there's no silver bullet. Creating content does take time. But the best thing you can do to create content at scale is to have a system to help you get it done. For example, you might decide you're going to spend 1 day a month bulk creating 4 weeks of content. So you'd mark that day on your calendar, work out how many hours you need for filming vs. editing, then just stick with it.

When you can afford it, you could look into getting a freelancer to help you with this. Eventually, your time might be better spent developing your business. So if you can outsource some content creation, you'll likely get a better result and free up your time to do other things. But in the meantime, create a system then just be consistent. That's really all there is to it.

- Charlotte Ellis, Editor ♡

PSST…PASS IT ON