Rory Gallery, Chief Strategy Officer, Special Group New Zealand

In One Sentence…

How do you define effective marketing?
Being able to proudly demonstrate that your investment of time, money and energy has made an impact on brands we work on.

What marketing trend(s) are you excited about right now?
I am enjoying using ChatGPT to enhance and supplement my thinking—in the same way the internet boosted the industry’s productivity, I can already see this unfolding with the addition of these tools.

How does creativity drive effectiveness?
In a world where most people would rather do chores than watch an entire ad break, the first rule of every brief should be to get noticed—creativity is of course central to this.

What is the biggest roadblock to marketing effectiveness?
Failing to think about the work we are making through the eyes of a real person.

What do you hope marketing looks like in the next five years?
Less faddish, more focused on the fundamentals of great brand building.

Rory was a 2022 Effie Awards Aotearoa judge. See more In One Sentence features. Special Group topped the Most Effective Independent Agencies ranking in last year’s Effie Index.