Welcome to the Digital Marketing Inner Circle

This week, Denise has contributed a great interview with Dale McCarthy – Director of Corporate Development at Fairfax Digital.

I first knew of Dale when she wrote one of the first online editorial columns for Adnews through her role with XM/Harrow. It helped develop my early interest in online and opened my eyes to the possibilities. I was then thrilled to meet her in the late 90’s when she moved to fast growing Fairfax Online and I was doing early work with the BRW sites. Some years later when I went back to Fairfax Digital, through my involvement with Essential Baby, Dale’s was the only familiar face from those earlier Fairfax Online days – she is a true survivor. Her loyalty, experience and intellectual property are held in extremely high esteem not only by FD but by the industry in general. In her profile Dale makes interesting comments on the commercial media assets to watch out for and also coins a highly effective term in Q6 (which I am shamelessly going to nick – with due credit) to define a strategy for brands developing multimedia platforms. Enjoy!

Name: Dale McCarthy
Works: Fairfax Digital
Job Title: Director, Corporate Development

1. How, where and when did the digital industry find you?
I was Account Director on IBM and Coca-Cola at McCann-Erickson Advertising in 1995. Because I was a bit of a geek and could speak computer I was selected to investigate “new media” for the agency and my clients. We’re talking CD-ROMs, text-only web sites and the first time that email got sent outside our office. It was primitive, but it blew my mind.
A year later I joined George Patterson Bates and set up XM for them, one of the first digital agencies in Australia. We bought Harrow Productions and became XM/Harrow, one of the largest web development companies at the time. In those days it was a mystical art and everyone outsourced web development, so we built the first websites for companies like Optus and St George bank. I ran strategy and new business.
I joined Fairfax Digital (then Fairfax Online) as Marketing Director in 1998 under Nigel Dews. Exciting and heady days of the dotcom bubble ensued!

2. What is your current role and what do you actually do?
It’s corny I know, but I think I have the best job in the best company in the digital industry in Australia. I work with a phenomenal team of smart, fun people and reporting to Jack Matthews is a blast.
I run strategy and mergers & acquisitions. My office is a revolving door of dotcom entrepreneurs trying to get Fairfax to invest in or buy their businesses (well, before the GFC it was a rapidly revolving door, at the moment it’s slightly slower moving….). I have the privilege of meeting a fascinating array of digital business people. Invariably, they are passionate, savvy and at the cutting (or bleeding) edge of what is happening. It’s always interesting.
My role is to decide if a business is a synergistic fit for Fairfax Digital and then, with my team, analyse their business model. We want to build category leaders with high-growth trajectories and strong ROI. Of the 100+ businesses we’ve reviewed in the last year, we have invested in, acquired or JV’d with only a handful.
I also work on mapping out FD’s future direction and assist the businesses with their operational strategies.
Oh, and I’m OddJob for Jack.

3. If you could have any job, what would it be (can be in and/or outside the industry)?
I used to want to be Madonna, but lately it’s been Pink…
If I knew what I know now and were 20 years younger I’d become a digital entrepreneur and launch my own dotcom. I now know how to spot the money-spinners. But as I’m not willing to give up my wonderful life, work 24/7 for nothing and ditch the kids and the husband, it’s not going to happen. Professional board member, advising and helping digital companies grow would be as good.

4. Take a punt on the ‘next big thing’ in digital?
Wow. Only one? There are so many emerging areas that I believe are going to be big. Of course I only care about the ones that are going to make money.
This week’s favourite is Mobile Content. The iPhone created a paradigm shift in the way people use mobiles – it’s no longer a phone, it’s a mobile internet device that you can also make calls on and, very importantly, can easily make credit card micro-payments on independent from your carrier.
It boggles my mind that for the past 10 years the billion dollar Japanese and Swedish handset manufacturers kept producing different versions of the same thing with a poor internet experience and the content was controlled by the carriers’ walled gardens. It was obvious the model was flawed. It took a visionary, Steve Jobs, to stand up to the carriers and bust down the walls. It was the tipping point and mobiles will never be the same again. Love it or hate it, in 10 months the iPhone has gained 13% share of the Australian handset market and represents half of all mobile internet traffic. Every other manufacturer is now scrambling to catch up and every publisher and entrepreneur is developing mobile apps.
It has taken a loooong time coming but there is a small mobile snowball coming rapidly down the hill and, at last, it has some revenue attached to it (particularly in the form of content/apps micro-payments).
My other favourites would be video content, internet TVCs, niche directories and IPTV.

5. Where do you see the digital industry in the next 5 years? (any forecasts and challenges)
Post GFC, the future is bright for the digital industry. It will be stronger, better, even more ubiquitous and increasingly mainstream. The structural shift towards internet usage (on your PC, your mobile, your TV, in your car) will continue as speed, devices, usability and content all continue to improve over the next 5 years.

6. How do you see other media evolving in the next 5 years?
They will evolve by playing to their unique strengths to stay relevant to consumer needs.
For example, getting people to go to the cinema rather than download the movie at home is about the “outing,” so delighting people with the cinema environment and the experience will keep them coming back.
In the highly fragmented digital age, media brands need to be very focused on what they stand for and who they talk to. They also need to be ‘platform neutral.’ Their consumers should be able to connect with the brand in a variety of forms, whether it is offline or digital. Media companies will increasingly look at overall audience and revenue growth of their brands rather than view digital forms of the product eroding traditional product forms. In most cases there is a complementary role for both.

7. Where do you see the digital industry going in the next 12 months? (particularly in light of the evolving financial situation)
The digital industry isn’t immune to the economic downtown but I’d wager that most digital businesses are doing a hell of a lot better than their offline equivalents. In fact some are down-right benefiting from the GFC.
There will be some casualties, particularly amongst newer businesses that aren’t cash flow positive yet, as funding has all but dried up. The next 12 months (or as long as the downturn continues) is a time for digital businesses to focus on their core, not expect the rapid growth of the past and be judicious with their cost base.
I think it is actually quite healthy for the industry to go through this period of rationalisation. It forces people to get back to the basics of business and sheds some of the arrogance.

8. Did you ever have a big digital idea you wish you pursued (or someone else’s idea you wish was yours)?
Google deciding to stay focused on being the best possible search engine and not become a “portal,” like Yahoo, LookSmart, Excite, AltaVista and all the other search engines at the time, was a pretty damn good idea.

9. Where do you get your industry information from?
Peers, vendors, industry die-hards, research services, my favourite sites, e-newsletters, LinkedIn, Twitter. Plus, you can learn a lifetime’s worth in a day of meetings at Fairfax Digital….

10. What industry groups or networks are you a part of?
FD is a member of all the industry groups.
Personally, I’m not big on them. I network through work and the web but when I leave the office its time for my family.
You can find me on LinkedIn and @dalemccarthy on Twitter.
Know anyone you would like to see profiled on Digital Marketing Inner Circle- or have any other comments?  Please email me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Till next time!