Alli Galloway has been the CMO of Vinyl Group since August 2023, but her career in the music industry extends way beyond that. She brings with her 18 years of music industry marketing experience across Australia and the UK, covering the live sector, indie and major record labels and music tech.
But in all the chaos of her day-to-day grind, bouncing around from one concert to another, Galloway finds peace in the little things: gardening, dinner parties and listening to a vinyl front to back. Galloway lifted the arm on the old record player for a few moments to sit down with B&T and unpack her favourite campaigns and what she would be doing if she weren’t a CMO.
Welcome back to ‘CMOs To Watch‘. Once a month, we look beyond the biggest marketing bosses in Australia and the world to focus on emerging leaders and under-the-radar brands.
B&T: What three things would you take to a desert island?
Galloway: My phone, a portable speaker, and sunscreen. Sounds divine!
B&T: Favourite album, movie and book?
Galloway: Album – Siamese Dream by Smashing Pumpkins, because it has so many textures and is so dynamic that it’s impossible to ever get sick of listening to those songs. An album that truly represents the sound of the 90s!
Movie – Forrest Gump for me is a film I can go back to time and time again, laugh and cry every time, and the soundtrack is sensational.
Book – The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto. It tells the story of a young prodigy musician, but from the perspective of music – as though the music itself is personified. Very clever!
B&T: What is your passion outside of work? (Think hobbies, sports, etc) and please send us a photo of you doing it!
Galloway: I love gardening, hosting dinner parties for friends, and simply switching off in a big, comfy chair to listen to an album on vinyl front to back. These things are my form of meditation and allow me to reset. I also enjoy a bit of DIY, and with a baby on the way, I am very excited about decorating our nursery.
B&T: If you weren’t a CMO, what would you be doing?
Galloway: I always joke and say that my dream job is watering the plants in Bunnings because it seems so relaxing! I also like to think I’d make an enthusiastic resort blogger or food critic – but in all seriousness, I know my heart is firmly in the music industry! I’m so passionate about artists and music-tech that I’d probably be running my own start-up that satisfies those interests – or managing the next Spice Girls to superstardom.
B&T: What was your favourite campaign of all time?
Galloway: This answer will make me sound like an old man! For context – a great campaign to me always incorporates incredible use of music, so much so that the music choice can amplify the campaign from being good to unforgettable. So for that reason I have always loved the Cadbury campaign from 2007, created by Fallon London, using the Gorilla playing drums to “In The Air Tonight” by Phil Collins. It starts slow, draws you in, and then when the Gorilla hits the drums it sends a shiver up my spine every time. For me that style of entertainment advertising marked a new era for viral thinking. And, by all accounts it worked for Cadbury too, because 17 years later that clip is still clocking up views on YouTube!
B&T: … Now let’s talk shop. What is your brand’s top priority for the next 12 months?
Galloway: Each brand within Vinyl Group has its own priorities. From a group perspective, the aim is to deepen integration between the brands so they can collectively work towards our overall goal of elevating the creator economy. Vampr services creatives, Jaxsta services the music industry, Vinyl.com services fans, and The Brag Media services fans/consumers and brands. The ecosystem combined is extremely powerful and we will continue to unlock opportunities that work across all parts of the business.
B&T: What channel is exciting you the most and how do you split your marketing budgets between long/short and channels mix?
Galloway: The channel that has always excited me the most is direct and email. Whether that be on our sites, app or subscriber lists; data ownership, and 1st party comms come with endless creative opportunities to deepen the bond between user/consumer and our brands. Our social channels, primarily Instagram, YouTube and TikTok serve as an extension of those, while LinkedIn and Facebook are more relevant for some of the campaigns we run, pending the audience we are aiming to reach.
We are quite reactive with optimising short term and always-on marketing budgets to ensure we are always getting the best results, and applying them to what we know works. Long term and one-off campaigns are always about testing new ground or trying something different – we are a team who have a lot of experience and can apply that to take risks creatively.
B&T: What is the biggest challenge you currently face in the marketplace?
Galloway: Right now, it’s combatting the changes that Google introduced recently that affect SEO. Like other businesses, we have seen the fall-off. Luckily we have an expert and agile team who can address the changes and modify our sites and practices to claw back the levels of organic search traffic we were seeing earlier this year.
B&T: What campaign are you most proud of?
Galloway: Within Vinyl Group, it would have to be the incredible work that The Brag Media team produced for Adidas, the ‘Back Of The Net Beats’ campaign. I have to disclose I had nothing to do with this campaign, but I am beyond proud of the work that those in our company did! With the FIFA WWC taking place in Australia, The Brag Media and Adidas set a goal to make the women’s game impossible to ignore. Australian producer Mallrat and rapper Kwame collaborated with sound captured on-set by Matilda’s star Caitlin Foord. These sounds were sampled and creatively recontextualised by the performing artists to create a brand-new song, ‘Forums’ by Mallrat (feat. Kwame), as well as a premium video documentary. By showcasing the musicality and skillsets of emerging artists with sport, The Brag Media showcased the authentic connection between music and sport, driven by passionate fandom.
Collaboration is a core value of Vinyl Group across all of our brands, and it was key for this music-driven campaign, which included track creation and video content. Rolling Stone Australia, Hypebeast, Adidas, Essencemediacom, Caitlin Foord, Kwame, and Mallrat all worked together to create the final outcome.
B&T: Where do you see yourself in five years time?
Galloway: In five years I hope to still be the CMO of Vinyl Group! I am so proud of the work and the team, and we have so many exciting things in our future that I’d be thrilled to be a part of seeing that long-term roadmap come to life. As well as company goals, I have many personal ambitions I’d like to fulfil in this role and with this team.
Check out the other instalments in the CMOs To Watch series here:
