Report 2013 - Kelly Fagan HERE - Australian Publishers Association

Marketing and Publicity Department Structures (Australia) (cont.)
I put this question to Simon Milne, who managed the restructure of HarperCollins Australia’s marketing and
communications team:
One of the first things I did when I joined HarperCollins was to integrate the marketing and publicity
teams into a vertical structure – Fiction, Non-fiction, Children’s and ABC Books. Bringing marketing and
publicity together has improved our working processes and integrated our brand positioning across
print, digital, retail, social and the media. I believe this vertical structure has also enhanced the energy,
creativity and fun we bring to our marketing communication campaigns. 14
After nearly 12 months of working within this structure I can see that there is undoubtedly a fertile overlap between
consumer marketing and traditional book publicity. Book publicists are naturally attuned to market segments
and demographics, and very used to quickly developing relationships and partnerships. That said, I have to be
honest and say that individually my day-to-day activities have not changed very much at all. I still find myself largely
communicating with traditional media and with booksellers. My marketing colleagues are still producing point-ofsale
campaigns and outdoor advertising campaigns. Marketers still market; publicists still publicise and despite all of
the noise about communicating directly with readers, much of the change from what I can see here is still happening
at a budgetary and managerial level.
Nevertheless, change is part of our future and, across the board, all of the marketers and publicists I spoke to in
Australia before leaving for the UK were keen to experiment and passionate about finding new and inventive ways
to promote books and authors here. What skills do we need to turn ourselves outward and face readers directly
And what parts of traditional roles are still valid in this new landscape
14 Email interview with Simon Milne, Marketing and Communications Director HarperCollins Australia, 31 October, 2013
Author: Kelly Fagan
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