Brand Ambassador

Henry Budd

60 SECONDS IN THE 9 TO 5 OF A … BRAND AMBASSADOR

V&S Absolut Spirits brand ambassador Georgia McDonnell-Adams has quite possibly found her perfect job. As a brand ambassador for several spirits, McDonnell-Adams is able to combine her background in bartending with her passion for marketing.

( Q ) What does a brand ambassador do?
( A ) A brand ambassador’s role is to enhance the brand. I spend a lot of my time flying around Australia educating bartenders about the three brands we have, teaching them how to make cocktails and basically enhance their experience of drinking Absolut, Plymouth Gin and Level vodka. The other half of my role is helping the brand manager with strategic marketing of the brand and giving her insight into where I think opportunities lie in the marketplace. I spend a lot of time training sales staff as well. It is predominantly a training-based role.

( Q ) What is an average day at work?
( A ) I come in in the morning and catch up with the relevant sales team – I have a focus team [in each state].
I check up on any current projects that I have, which includes staff incentives for bartenders in different venues around Australia. There is a lot of planning for when I fly off to do a training session. If I’m on the road, when I get up in the morning I have to sort out all my planning for the training session. I have to go and buy stock such as fruit juices and the like. Then I head to the venue and set up the bar and go through the training session, which can take two or three hours.

( Q ) How many days a year are you on the road?
( A ) A lot. Every three weeks, I’d usually go for an average of four or even five days.

( Q ) How do you become a brand ambassador?
( A ) I was a cocktail bartender in Perth for six years. Then I got out of the industry and started my own fashion PR company and then I worked for a larger fashion PR company but I was also doing marketing for the bar I used to work at as well. The previous brand ambassador had trained me when I was a bartender and we kept in contact over the years. When I heard the job was up for grabs I put in an application.

( Q ) Have you had any formal training in marketing?
( A ) I went to university. I did a Bachelor of Communication majoring in mass communication and public relations at Edith Cowan University. I finished in 2006.

( Q ) Do you think having a background in bartending has helped much?
( A ) I couldn’t do my job without it. Having said that, I couldn’t do it without a marketing background either.

It’s a marriage of convenience, I guess. Five or six years ago, ambassadors were bartenders, but because the cocktail world has become such a commercially viable industry you really need to be marketing savvy to do this role well.

( Q ) What do you most like about your job?
( A ) I love the freedom of it. I like the travel side as well. Travelling around teaching people about three awesome brands is a pretty cool job, I think. Not being stuck behind a desk 24/7 is unreal. Being on the road and seeing opportunities for the brand and being able to translate that to marketing strategies is an awesome thing for me as well.

( Q ) Are there any drawbacks to the role?
( A ) As much as I love the travel, it is also quite disjointing, especially being a girl from Perth who has just moved to Sydney. But it’s a small downside compared to everything else.

( Q ) What do you want to do in the future?
( A ) I would like to work overseas. I would still like to work with Absolut, but head over to the American side [of the business]. I would like
to see what the New York scene is all about. For me, the next step up would be using the skills that I have got here and trying them out in
another market.

The Daily Telegraph, January 19, 2008