Page 10 - AdNews May-June 2020

Feature
Music nerd and gadget magpie
MediaCom’s technology dork has a secret life as a photographer of live music gigs.
Alex Kirk is a self-described restless, twitchy idiot who doesn’t know when to quit as it applies to pursuits he is passionate about. It has served him well.
True to this quirk, after years “doing almost every job in the agency across planning or buying or leading teams”, in 2015 Kirk says he ulti- mately invented his current role at media agency MediaCom, as head of systems and automation.
“I’m now responsible for new systems and technologies that our teams might need to do their jobs most effectively,” says London- born and bred Kirk, who has been with MediaCom globally since 2008, and in Sydney since 2011.
“They’re the experts at the work they do – my team’s job is to improve the way they do it.”
It’s a role that saw Kirk crack LinkedIn’s Power Profiles list of the most viewed marketing and advertising professionals in Australia for 2017; one that included hotshots from Lenovo, Qantas, Commonwealth Bank and Myer.
As a self described technology dork, he found the process of lockdown during the coronavirus crisis as strangely exciting.
“The ability to work effectively while apart requires technology, and watching the MediaCom offices all take a massive leap forward at speed in terms of capability has been incredible to watch,” he says.
“While it’s been really tough going, it’s an incredible opportunity to re-evaluate how an agency works, and how we might evolve further for a future that has, for good or ill, completely changed.”
WORDS BY
JENNI GILBERT