Over the last 35 years, my career has been shaped by adaptability and learning in a rapidly changing creative and technological landscape. Throughout this time, I have been privileged to contribute to brand re-establishments at John Valves, digital transformations at Roy Morgan Research, and the creation of Digital Cradle, each experience enriching my perspective and skills. Starting in a recession-hit Australia, I pivoted from an early passion for architecture to a pioneering role in the emerging field of digital finished art & design. Beginning with a desktop publishing role at KPMG and further honed at Scimitar Advertising.
This journey, filled with challenges and opportunities, now leads to an exciting new chapter: the AI-led era.
Growing up, I was captivated by design and technology. From drawing floor plans as a child to programming graphics on a TRS-80 computer at 13, I nurtured a dual passion for creativity and innovation. However, financial realities and a shifting job market led me to a Bachelor of Science program, which I quickly realised wasn’t for me. A chance encounter led me to my first role at KPMG, where I cut my teeth on early desktop publishing tools like PageMaker and Illustrator 88. Without a completed tertiary education, this period taught me the importance of self-reliance, continuous learning and a lot of hard work—a theme that would persist throughout my career.
My introduction to the advertising industry came through Scimitar Advertising, a small agency filled with ex-Macey’s creatives. The role as a digital finished artist, or as it was known for a long time, a Mac Operator. This was a liminal time for the industry as tasks like retouching and typesetting were brought in-house, which saved time and allowed greater creative flexibility. Art Direction was still firmly pen and ink, not shoving pixels around a screen until it looked OK. I was fortunate to learn traditional design techniques alongside emerging digital tools. Sadly, the role was also the final bell for traditional finished artists. The mentorship from seasoned creatives helped me master everything from finished art direction to production. These years were filled with late nights and the thrill of being at the forefront of a new era in advertising with the emergence of digital finished art. I moved on from the first agency, looking to grow my experience. I went on to work small creative studios to the big internationals along St.Kilda Road. My creative career peaked at Grey as an Art Director. I was creative on major brands’ work on TV, radio, OOH, and digital campaigns at the time. However, the industry culture—punctuated by long hours and heavy drinking—took its toll. I experienced burnout and personal struggles, including my wife becoming an “advertising window”. Despite these challenges, I transitioned into digital roles, where I began to merge creativity with technology, laying the foundation for what would become my specialty.
I designed my first website for a company that digitised phone books to produce searchable CD-Roms, followed by projects for food manufacturers and other industries. Despite initial successes, it became apparent that I needed further skills to thrive in this evolving field. Working for eMERGE, a government-funded cooperative multimedia center, I participated in government multimedia committees and contributed to policy-making for Multimedia Victoria. This experience underscored my need for more profound expertise in digital design and online advertising, prompting a return to the industry with a renewed mission to develop these skills. This period marked my entry into the dot-com era.
By the late 1990s, I had co-founded Digital Cradle, a digital incubator at the height of the dot-com boom, building on my experiences at Roy Morgan Research and other pivotal roles that had deepened my expertise in emerging technologies and digital strategies. Our team was pioneering online concepts, and for a brief moment, we were poised for success. But the dot-com crash wiped out our gains almost overnight, leaving me to navigate a dramatically altered landscape. This period was humbling and enlightening, reinforcing the need for resilience and adaptability. I had come from the thrills and spills of a relatively simple creative industry to one now transformed by technology, even though this was just the beginning of a new era.
The 2000s marked my evolution into a digital strategist and account manager.
Starting more as a digital creative and project manager, I found myself working closer and closer with clients. My growing digital knowledge and advertising experience gave me an edge and opened up new opportunities. At this time, we were leading e-commerce development. You could not just create a Shopify account and be off and running. You had to build from the ground up. Security, what was that? The industry was bounding along, and out-of-the-box solutions would soon emerge.
As the internet matured, I worked with major agencies and clients, managing everything from e-commerce platforms to SEO campaigns. My work spanned industries, including aged care, retail, and manufacturing, and I became deeply involved in data-driven marketing strategies. Despite the steady technological advancements, this period highlighted the persistent challenges of keeping up with rapid innovation and navigating the precarious nature of agency work.
I had always hoped to gain digital experience and knowledge and return to the advertising industry. I did attempt to achieve this, but the industry has moved on and become a very different creature. Creativity has become a slave to technology. It seemed that many creatives were doing things because they could not or because they should.
Like many aging advertising people, I leapt across to the client side. A very different world, one that contrasts the ad industry as very arrogant to the needs of their clients. Finishing myself dealing with web development agencies, I was aware of ‘the game’ to lure clients toward a preferred and profitable solution. It took time to adjust to this new alignment. My career through the 2010s jumped between agency and client side, never finding the right place. The creativity inside of me always wanted to emerge, battling against the joy of discovering and adapting to new technology. Being client-side allows for more time with family and life balance.
I have always been driven to give young talent an opportunity at every opportunity. I had the experience to share, just like my mentors in my earlier career. The highlight was being invited to teach digital marketing, which I did for some time. I taught nearly 100 students, and it will always be a career highlight. Adding to the experience is seeing some students build impressive careers worldwide. The experience also made me realise that it was time for me to study myself.
My career had led me to develop processes and skills before they were ‘a thing’. I was wireframing websites and architectural thinking, starting with a floor plan. SEO was about good user experience rather than optimising for a search engine, and so on. Another concept was the evolution from the creative brief to the idea of personas. These personas would then line up with the wireframing and become what we know today as user experience or UX. But I always had the feeling the way we guesstimated or used psychometric data was lacking something, something quintessentially human. I was to eventually believe anthropology may hold the answer.
In recent years, I’ve integrated my background in anthropology into my approach to marketing, drawing on my formal education to inform roles like my consultancy work with Cherrybomb Agency and my rebranding efforts at John Valves. This shift has allowed me to move beyond static personas, focusing instead on dynamic, evolving consumer behaviours. By blending ethnographic insights with data analytics, I’ve developed strategies that align with the complexities of modern consumer engagement.
My roles have included rebranding efforts, digital transformations, and education. As a consultant and instructor, I’ve shared my knowledge with businesses and students, helping them navigate the complexities of digital marketing. These experiences have deepened my belief in continuous learning and adaptability.
As we enter an AI-driven era, I reflect on the journey that brought me here. From the early days of desktop publishing to today’s advanced analytics and automation, my career has been defined by a willingness to embrace change. AI represents both a challenge and an opportunity to reimagine how creativity and technology intersect. I’m excited to explore how this new frontier will shape the future of marketing, just as digital once did.
I remain committed to leveraging my diverse experiences to help businesses and individuals thrive in this rapidly evolving landscape. My story is about perseverance, adaptation, and a relentless curiosity for what comes next.
Deakin University:
Copyright 2025 © Brett A Allen, Australia, All rights Reserved | Cherrybomb
I acknowledge the Woi Wurrung people of the Kulin Nation, the Traditional Custodians of the land on which I live, work, and create. I recognise that these lands were never ceded and remain, always, their land. I pay my deepest respects to Elders past and present, and to all First Nations people whose cultures and connections to Country continue to shape and strengthen this place.
As a white Australian with ancestry tracing back to First Fleet convicts, colonisers, and more recent immigrants, I acknowledge the privileges I have inherited through systems built on dispossession and ongoing injustice. I recognise that my presence here is part of a broader legacy—one that has caused deep harm, directly and indirectly, to First Nations communities.
I commit to listening, learning, and working in ways that honour the sovereignty, knowledge, and enduring strength of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
