Jess Bark is a Marketer of the Future finalist in the YouTube NZ Marketing Awards 2025.
The winner will be announced on September 3.
Name: Jess Bark
Job title: Assistant Marketing Manager – Everyday Money Tribe – ASB
How it started
How did you find out you were nominated – what was the first thing you did?
My wonderful team had kindly given me the heads up that I was being nominated, so naturally when the finalist announcement day rolled around, I had a few butterflies. You know that feeling when your heart drops down to your stomach? I had that as I clicked on the email link and saw my name on the screen with the other five finalists. That was already the win for me, having my name among a group of outstanding young marketers – the recognition is an accolade in itself.
Once my heart had returned to its standard rate in my chest, I picked up the phone and called my partner, mum and dad (in no specific order!), blurted out the news before hopping onto a meeting where my manager and our agency friends gave me a lovely congrats. Pretty awesome I was able to share those moments with my team and family who have all been paramount in my journey to where I am today.
What sparked your interest in marketing?
How I found myself in marketing? The marriage of curiosity, creativity and passion. My parents can attest to my love of the word ‘why’ from a very young age, and as I grew up, competing in dance and the performing arts became my creative outlet. Double that down with dual degrees in business and psychology, all paths pointed to marketing.
Once I rotated into a marketing team as an ASB graduate, that rush I used to feel on stage as a dancer returned as I sat in on my first creative and media agencies presentation for ASB’s new Everyday Rewards credit card partnership proposition – two weeks later I was asking for a job! The way marketing purposefully blends insight, creative, strategy and customer centricity to drive behaviour change and business results ticked all possible boxes for me. Plus, I love a good challenge, and there is always another problem to solve using marketing.
In a couple of sentences, sum up your marketing career so far.
I love the idea of ‘jumping in the deep end’, mainly because I love a good challenge – but also because the past almost two years working in marketing have shown me that when you’re doing something you love, you’ll not only float, but swim. I’ve been given several opportunities to deliver high-profile campaigns across youth segments, fraud and scams and credit cards, collaborating with internal stakeholders and agencies to produce activity that has surpassed targets, challenged creativity and delivered both business and customer outcomes.
On another hand, it’s been filled with fundamental skill development in areas which aren’t so visible – delivering below-the-line tactical campaigns, uplifting internal processes, always-on optimisations, executing BAU work in accordance with risk gates and driving team culture. Probably one of the biggest highlights so far has been the people. I’ve built some awesome relationships with our partners, agencies and internal teams – that even when things get crunchy mid-campaign, we’re all there on the same team to celebrate once everything’s live.
Say hello to the other Marketer of the Future finalists 2025
Josie Cook
Lucy Hansard
Millie Astley
Simran Wadhawan
Thomas Siemsen
What do you like best?
What’s your favourite thing about marketing? Do you have a specialist area?
At this point in time, it would be media partnerships. I love collaborating with partners, owning a relationship and nailing authentic brand and product integration. Over the past 12 months I’ve had a hand at a few different partnership relationships, and I love how each one has presented its own nuances and challenges but also welcomes fresh ways of thinking to deliver to increasing customer needs and expectations. I work in the Everyday Money space within ASB, which covers a broad portfolio – but my keen interests sit in the 18-24 and Fraud and Scams spaces, where the landscapes of youth culture and scams (separately) are rapidly evolving.
Tell us about a specific project you’ve worked on that stands out for you.
Over the past year I’ve had a lot of involvement and leadership within the 18-24 youth segment. ASB’s ‘Level Up’ platform initially sparked my interest as I slotted quite nicely into the target audience, and with the key insight acknowledging the anxiety Gen Z has around money and financial confidence, this platform is very close to my heart. Authenticity in both creative and media placement was key for this audience, paving the way for a number of partnership-led initiatives that I spearheaded which leveraged brands like Urban List, George FM, Visa and the University of Auckland. Having a part to play in several aspects of the overall strategy helped me dive deep into this interesting (and sometimes fickle!) audience, and I was able to lean into some of my psych background and personal experience to add value and ‘level up’ the activity!
Hard stuff, good stuff
What are the biggest challenges for people starting out in this industry?
A lot goes on in the world of marketing, it’s fast paced and there’s a lot of pressure to deliver. When starting out, I was immersed in a world of foreign acronyms, metrics, risk, processes, design and lots of feedback and amends. It is such a multi-faceted industry that it’s difficult to understand firstly, what the heck it is you’re doing, but also WHY you’re doing it. With ASB being such a purpose and insights-driven business, the ‘why’ was always there, it just took (and is still taking) me time and LOTS of questions. I think where marketing can go wrong, is if you lose sight of that initial insight or business problem for whatever project you’re working on – big or small!
Any advice for other young marketers?
As a graduate or newbie, probably in any industry, it can be easy to accept a reality in which you’re at the ‘bottom of the food chain’. It doesn’t have to be this way. Speaking up, backing yourself and being willing to take risks will only ever help you learn and grow. Confidence within yourself is a good place to start. You may not know everything or have all the answers, but having confidence that you can learn as you go will propel you into opportunities you may not have expected.
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