I take a trip down a quiet suburban street to Sky’s Mount Wellington office to chat about the refreshed leadership team poised to take the company forward, and its vision into the future.
Tucked down an unremarkable driveway in suburban Auckland, passers-by could be forgiven for not realising that a vital component of New Zealand’s entertainment landscape is based here, nestled between unassuming brick homes and grassy lawns.
Inside I’m met with a cheery greeting from the receptionist and ushered through a labyrinth of corridors to a spacious conference room with an enormous table.
Waiting for me inside is Sky’s newly-appointed Head of Brand Marketing and Planning, Sarah Pepworth and Daniel Kelly, Chief Customer Officer.
I’ve been invited here to discuss Sky’s recent appointment of Sarah to this newly-established leadership role, as well as to chat to Daniel about what Sarah’s appointment as the final piece of the leadership puzzle means for the company’s future ambitions.
Along with Sarah’s appointment, Sky has welcomed a raft of new senior hires in 2023 including Ben Gibb as Head of Sales, Reuben Wiremu as Senior Trade Marketing Manager, Kathryn Allemann as Manager – Integration and Trade Marketing, Thomas Robins as Head of Sky Originals (Senior Commissioner – Scripted) and Nick Ward – Senior Content Commissioner – Non-Scripted, who have been assembled as a sort of ‘A-Team’ to drive the company forward.
Looking to 2024, the team is set to grow even more, with Karina Healy appointed Head of Corporate Communication, and Ciara McGuigan as Chief Financial Officer.
Sarah’s Head of Brand Marketing and Planning role primarily centres around brand marketing, with a significant emphasis on customer acquisition. As part of this, Sarah’s responsibilities revolve around the management of teams engaged in the recently introduced planning process, which has undergone refinement over the past six months.
She also supervises the creative hub within Sky’s marketing department, which houses an internal agency staffed with creators, designers, and various other experts, as well as collaborating with external agencies.
Prior to taking on this role, Sarah has had a diverse career path that encompasses experience in the telecommunications, manufacturing, and digital sectors.
“I lived in the UK for about nine years, and most of that time was spent going through the UK telcos, predominantly in value brands, while working on relatively crowded markets and with lean budgets,” she says.
“I had to be quite creative and quite bold to get that distinctiveness to cut through on marketing activity we
were doing.”
Returning to New Zealand, she ventured into the completely different industry of heavy manufacturing, followed by a role at Public Trust and most recently, Spark, where she led performance marketing.
With this experience under her belt, she says she feels prepared to navigate crowded markets with tight budgets, while fostering creativity and boldness to stand out.
The opportunity to work in the entertainment space and with an internal agency of creators and designers, in addition to external agencies, also intrigued her.
“From a brand and marketing perspective, we want customers to feel something, because if you feel something you’re more likely to take action,” she says.
“From a marketing perspective it’s around ‘educate, engage and excite’. We need to motivate you to take action, so we can tell you about it, you can feel something about what we do, and now we want you to take that action.”
Daniel Kelly, Chief Customer Officer at Sky, has had over 15 years of experience in the Australian telco industry and joined Sky three years ago to lead the development and delivery of the Sky broadband product. When Sophie Moloney, Sky CEO, assumed her role and initiated leadership changes, Daniel transitioned to his current position.
His role involves overseeing a diverse team responsible for product management, marketing, and more.
“I lead a team of around one hundred people, and I do that with five very different, strong leaders placed within the team who I have been able to choose, and Sarah was the last piece of the puzzle.”
His role requires a broad mix of skills and capabilities across product management and marketing in all its various forms, which means he has to shift gears multiple times each day.
With 90 percent of Sky’s revenue dependent on his team, this role is pivotal to the company’s success.
“It’s not just about the mighty dollar,” he says. “But making sure our customers see value in the services that we provide. Making sure we’ve designed our products in a way that serves those customer needs the best they can.”
One of the major challenges Sky faces is getting New Zealanders to recognise that Sky is in fact a New Zealand brand.
“I think some people get confused. They think of Sky UK,” he explains. “It should be a loved brand, given the entertainment [it provides] and what we do with New Zealand sport.”
Over the years, there have also been challenges from a team perspective, but this refreshed leadership team aims to be the start of a new chapter for the organisation.
“We do have a big drive to improve, and lift our engagement overall as a team, so we’ve got some really strong measures against that.”
Both Sarah and Daniel are excited about the energy and passion of the team at Sky, seeing this as a driving force behind the company’s ability to achieve its goals.
Sarah’s vision for Sky includes making customers feel positively towards the brand and leveraging the brand’s platform to connect with Kiwi culture and integrate a Māori strategy.
“The team has spent quite a bit of time and investment on building that Māori strategy. That’s going to be a really important evolution in Sky’s journey and really exciting.”
Daniel says it is important that Sky works on becoming an aggregator in the evolving television industry, focusing on the transition from satellite to hybrid and internet-only models. The introduction of new devices like the Sky Pod will play a crucial role in delivering a unified viewing experience. There is also the need to adapt to changing viewer habits, including younger audiences watching content on mobile devices.
With a strong history of delivering sports content, the new frontier is also expanding the company’s reach into the world of entertainment.
While sports remain a cornerstone of the company’s offerings, Daniel says Sky is working to broaden its appeal by highlighting its extensive entertainment catalogue. The acquisition of local content and partnerships with global streaming platforms like HBO and Warner Bros. Discovery are an example of this and aim to showcase a commitment to diverse storytelling.
Sky’s streaming service Neon allows the brand to cater to different market segments, attracting subscribers who may not traditionally consider Sky, but are drawn to specific titles.
“We have another part called Sky Originals which commissions local content and that is taking off,” says Daniel.
Sky is also investing more in Sky Originals, working with the likes of Amazon Prime on some content.
“This will be commissioned work, working together so New Zealand content is going out onto a global platform like Amazon Prime in the future. We play a really significant role, not just in putting great sport on TV, but also telling some really strong New Zealand stories.”
The first task for this team is all about “the box and the Pod” says Daniel, with Sky’s focus being on getting these devices into the hands of more New Zealanders, offering an improved viewing experience, and the flexibility to make customer-driven improvements rapidly.
And of course, we can’t forget Sky’s role in pubs and clubs around Aotearoa, “where you can go and watch the rugby for the price of a pint”.
“What we are working to do is become more accessible, more available, to New Zealanders in more ways, rather than feel like we’re locked to a box. We’re trying to release some of those monopolistic shackles that some customers might think we have. We have a saying: ‘When they come for the sport, they stay for the entertainment.’”
It seems that after many years of telling other people’s stories, Sky is ready to tell its own.
“We’re back on that innovation track that Sky was known for and should be again known for. We’re here to deliver those services for New Zealanders again,” Daniel promises.
This article was first published in our December/January 2024 issue.
