Simon Millar - Gaicd Email and Phone Number

The privilege to lead the Platypus retail planning and buying, brand and retail marketing, as well as the digital team to drive profitable growth and market share across our 200 plus stores (and counting) and 2 digital sites in Australia and New Zealand.

As the Vice President, brand the mission is to inspire and enable consumers by harnessing the power of sport, enhancing adidas' market presence and increasing revenue and profitability, to drive the brand's commercial success across 10 countries. I am dedicated to building a winning culture that motivates teams and delivers strong commercial outcomes.Key Responsibilities:- Market Positioning & Growth: Focus on the elevation of adidas' market presence and drive revenue growth across the APAC region.- Go-To-Market Strategy: Evolve and implement the APAC go-to-market process, including category and assortment planning to maximise market penetration.- Business Planning: Align the go-to-market plan with APAC’s financial targets and business objectives.- Category & Campaign Management: Develop strategies and create locally relevant product and brand campaigns that build market share and optimise commercial outcomes.- Range Development: Lead the regional range development process, including localised product initiatives to achieve business targets and growth objectives.- Market Activation: Manage the execution of the APAC activation strategy, covering omni-channel marketing communications, sports/influencer marketing, retail marketing, membership, and performance marketing.- Channel Consistency: Maintain consistent brand presentation and commercial execution across all countries and channels in APAC.- Performance Analysis & Optimisation: Analyse business performance to identify opportunities and implement actions to exceed financial targets.- Budget Management: Oversee the regional marketing budget to maximise ROI and increase product and campaign sell-through.Team Leadership & Development: Lead and develop the APAC team, setting and leading positive organisational culture, fostering a collaborative, inclusive environment that drives employee satisfaction Stakeholder Engagement: Foster strong relationships with key internal and external stakeholders

Developed the local strategic plan for business continuity during COVID-19, ensuring extensive communication with head office in Japan and 1,500 local employees.Successfully opened three new stores, achieving financial KPIs despite the challenging trading environment caused by the pandemic.Developed and executed a comprehensive local marketing and communication strategy across all media and retail outlets to meet commercial targets.The CSR focus was on the donation and distribution of 500,000 units of PPE to partners such as Red Cross Australia and the Royal Flying Doctors Service. Additionally the donation of new and recycled clothing to our network of charitable partners assisting those most impacted by the events of 2020. I also played a leading role in driving cross-functional alignment and communication between various departments to improve the synergy and execution of our go-to-market plans.

Delivered the commercial strategy, encompassing ticket pricing, hospitality package development, and the go-to-market campaign.Developed the tournament brand positioning and executed the marketing campaign in Australia and other key markets.Enhanced audience engagement through effective direct marketing strategies across all owned digital marketing channels.Engaged and managed stakeholders extensively, including Australian state governments, tourism agencies, multicultural communities, commercial partners, and tournament ambassadors.Achieved a World Record attendance for a women’s cricket match, with a crowd 3.5 times larger than the previous record

Delivered record sales turnover and grew top-line revenues year on year. Focused marketing on consumer mindshare, and converted momentum to build market share across multi-brand stores, franchise mono-brand stores, and company-owned retail operations.✔ Accelerated growth of the company-owned retail stores, launched three flagship outlets, and added 2000m2 of additional selling space✔ Led sell-through acceleration to become the top-performing brand (sales revenue and profit) in customers’ businesses. ✔ Elevated direct-to-consumer channel sales year-on-year. Grew direct-to-consumer revenue share✔ Commissioned a study to map trade zones, brand footprint and competitive market share where insights produced recommendations set to deliver solid growth in 2017. ✔ Steered project with a third-party e-commerce specialist to operate and manage adidas’ online business in Hong Kong as a franchise business model. Initiative drove good sales, and provided strong insights in consumer preferences.✔ Created operational synergy between China and Hong Kong businesses to improve business and brand performance.✔ Instigated several process changes in product range merchandising and go-to-market functions.

Led a journey of change and transformation to deliver a stronger brand and sustained growth. In tandem, adapted the global brand strategy for relevance in the China market, developed business models to ensure success, and produced and rolled out local brand and product strategies across three sub-brands and multiple categories.✔ Built a shared understanding of the unique opportunity and requirements of the China market within the global organisation.✔ Grew internal capability by investing in training and development to create and market a consistent brand to consumers across all media formats.✔ Tripled revenues for the adidas brand in Greater China.✔ Repositioned sports performance from a leisure brand to an authentic sports brand. ✔ Turned around the NEO brand via a multipronged strategy of celebrity brand ambassadors, locally developed television and brand campaigns and a new retail format.✔ Drove a brand and sales resurgence for “Originals” that became the most desired brand in the sporting goods industry with universal awareness and purchase intention of 70%. Developed a pioneering Hard Franchise model for the China sporting goods industry to scale the brand’s distribution while maintaining premium positioning. ✔ Encouraged team honesty and transparency and instilled a rigorous commitment to my leadership and management system.✔ Over-delivered on all financial targets of the strategic plan. Invested in specialist talents and reinvented the business model for better brand control and higher profitability for customers

Promoted to steer the go-to-market process and activate the evolving adidas brand across Australia and New Zealand markets in transition. Designed the Brand and Go-to-Market strategy to focus on categories of running, football, and ‘Originals’—leveraging awareness to strengthen the brand’s reputation and market share✔ Signed critical sponsorship arrangements with high-profile sports teams. ✔ Built customer commitment and snared market share from competitors through strategic partnerships with retailers.✔ Leveraged the short-lead times and capability of the local product creation centre in Melbourne. Designed products with customer partners that secured committed sell-in, volume growth, and higher sell-through results and margins. ✔ Built the highest employee engagement scores in the Pacific business.✔ Managed the strategic planning process—an opportunity supported by the management peer group. As the custodian of the brand in the Pacific region, set two- to three-year category plans, and short-term targets. Gained significant share in categories that drove brand image development and revenue growth.

Brought structure to, and delivered against, the contractual product supply commitments for Cricket Australia, St George Illawarra, Collingwood Football Club, Adelaide Crows and the Australian 2006 Commonwealth Games team.Crafted a vision for delivering beyond partnerships and media exposure.✔ Created Moments of Disruption—an initiative designed to deliver brand attention through sponsorships.*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~★ A unique tracksuit with the jacket lining featuring the names of all Australian Gold Medallists in Commonwealth Games history. The jacket was a PR success at the uniform launch, and became the most coveted item of apparel. ★ A one-day uniform for the Australian cricket team featuring the authentic colour of the baggy green matched with metallic gold details—a true representation of the colours of Australia. The national marketing campaign urged cricket fans to show support by wearing the new shirt—which remains the number one selling cricket shirt of all time (tripling initial forecasts).*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~✔ Won support to sustain operations in the local creation centre after a global mandate was issues to close all local centres worldwide and source products designed in Germany or the US. Presented several business cases detailing the cost effectiveness and timeliness of producing goods for reverse seasons with small volumes, rapid lead-times and local pricing. ✔ Introduced 360-degree marketing concepts that elevated the quality of the go-to-market delivering the full year net sales target in 2006.

✔ Instrumental in more than doubling football revenues while snaring significant market share. ✔ Led the brand’s execution for FIFA World Cup in 2002 and UEFA European Championships in 2004. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~★ Two-time winner, Global Excellence Awards (internal).*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

✔ Managed Nike Pacific’s licensed product for AFL and NRL.✔ Led the Sydney 2000 Olympic program for team outfitting and licensed merchandise. ✔ Presided over Nike Pacific’s Field of Play analysis that determined future category focus and resource investment strategies.

✔ Introduced key Asian-designed and sized product lines, created and steered the product strategy for the AP region across multiple categories, and delivered consistent revenue growth. ✔ Presided over Nike’s promotional products across seven markets in APAC. Met contractual obligations on time.✔ Selected the Key Image Collection for individual athlete seeding to support major brand concepts