With a sharp eye for return on investment, Madeline Youngman is a nimble and reactive young marketer who is credited for spearheading MONDAY Haircare’s content and strategy on social media which helped her win the title of Up-&-Coming Marketer of the Year.

Spearheading the Scene

After returning from an exchange in Colombia under the Prime Minister’s scholarship and completing her postgraduate degree in Communications in 2019, Madeline (Maddie) Youngman wasn’t sure what direction to head in career wise. 

“However, I knew I wanted to be involved in a fast-paced business environment where I could be challenged,” she says. 

Hearing news of an up-and-coming haircare brand looking for a marketer to support it for its launch, Maddie met with the MONDAY Haircare founder, and immediately started interning while finishing up her studies.

As a marketing intern for a start-up company, Maddie needed to be across numerous facets of the business such as event planning and customer service. 

“Within marketing I quickly became involved in our digital performance, retail partnerships and social media strategy,” says Maddie.

She quickly fell in love with the world of marketing, personally taking a specific interest in the aspects of digital and data marketing. 

She is credited for spearheading the company’s content and social media strategy specifically on TikTok, where she was able to garner over 10 million likes and 200,000 followers, making MONDAY Haircare the most followed haircare brand. 

Through the Facebook and Instagram channels, Maddie also delivered 62 million impressions, reaching two million New Zealanders across the platforms.

Maddie says these are the significant contributions to the brand she is most proud of, and have become significant platforms for the brand to connect to its audience both locally and abroad. 

Working on the businesses’ social platforms, Maddie thoroughly enjoys collaborating with external parties such as TikTok, Meta and Google, learning many aspects of social media management along the way.

Her first role as an intern led her on to become MONDAY Haircare’s Marketing Executive in 2020. From there, Maddie quickly moved up the ladder within 18 months moving from Senior Marketing Executive to now Marketing Manager. 

Currently, she’s in charge of the marketing for the brand’s local and European retail activity, overseeing launches in locations such as the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany and more.  

Her retail and marketing learnings from the launch in New Zealand and Australia has helped Maddie successfully launch the brand in Europe as she takes a 360-degree approach while also bringing in new and fresh insights. 

She says the launch of MONDAY Haircare in the Netherlands is a highlight for her, as it was able to bring in double the sales forecasted for the remainder of the year. 

“This involved working closely with retailers on weekly late-night calls, onboarding a local PR agency and helping to tailor our digital strategy to reach the Dutch consumers,” she says. 

Despite working largely across Europe, Maddie chooses to not forget the home base of MONDAY Haircare, working on driving and improving the digital and marketing strategy in New Zealand. 

Her marketing style is considered to be innovative and detailed, and married with her strong relationship building and sharp awareness skills, she’s able to realise a return on investment. 

Working on social media, Maddie is described as nimble and reactive which is considered crucial for the space. She is a respected member of the MONDAY Haircare brand for her skills and ability to create strong relationships internally, with external stakeholders and retail partners. 

Over time, she has developed the ability to engage with the brand’s core audience and effectively communicate its message. 

Reflecting on her marketing career so far, Maddie says the role often demands her to become a ‘middleman’ and a strong communicator. 

“I’m constantly working between multiple and different groups of people across our internal teams, suppliers, retailers and creators, all coming together to achieve the best results for the business and this is what I really love,” she says. 

With MONDAY moving at a fast pace within the retail industry Maddie says this makes it an “exciting space to be in”.

“We are fast moving into the retail shopper data and measurement space executing retailer specific shopper targeting, ad to e-Commerce sale attribution, and controlled sales lift testing on a global scale, whilst operating it all from our New Zealand office.”

She says her marketing role also touches on areas such as “public relations, social media, customer service, paid digital strategy, design, staying on top of trends and more”. 

With this mind, she says being adaptable is a significant trait for a marketer in this fast-paced environment, which she also says is one of the biggest challenges of marketing. 

Alongside working in a fast-paced environment, Maddie says staying ahead of competitors, keeping up with consumer trends and working across a multitude of time zones are the biggest challenges of working in marketing. 

She adds that one thing often overlooked about being a marketer is how much work one puts in to ensure they are positioning and representing the brand well internally, through external stakeholders and with customers. 

On winning the 2022 Up-&-Coming Marketer of the Year title, Maddie says she is honoured to be recognised alongside three other Kiwi women who are making an impact in the marketing industry. 

Over the next five to 10 years, Maddie sees herself taking the skills and knowledge she’s learnt during her time with MONDAY Haircare and applying it to leading the ZURU Beauty Vertical. 

In the future she is hoping to execute a global launch while fostering the continued growth of other young talented marketers. 

As for her advice to other young marketers, Maddie says to thrive they need to be enthusiastic in everything they do, be prepared to adapt, stay agile and frequently look at market trends to better understand the consumer. 

“Remember no question is a silly question.”  

Category
Up-&-Coming Marketer of the Year

Winner
Madeline Youngman

Company
MONDAY Haircare

Judges’ Comments
“Madeline demonstrates strong leadership in planning, strategy, and implementation of global product launches. Clearly demonstrated social media, digital, and influence marketing knowledge that traverses into international marketing strategy and new market development. Her awareness and innovation in experimenting with data and digital marketing has delivered measurable business results, driving in-store revenue at a global scale.”

Finalists
Hannah McLean; Sidney McNamara; Tina Stanke

Enter the 2023 TVNZ-NZ Marketing Awards

Know an up-and-coming marketer worthy of this award? Enter them into 2023 TVNZ-NZ Marketing Awards, Up-&-coming Marketer of the Year. Entries close at 5pm on April 28, 2023.

This article was originally published in the September/October 2022 issue of NZ Marketing. Click here to subscribe.