14 INTERNET OF THINGS
marketingmag.com.au
WHYWE NEED MARKETING APRIL | MAY 2015
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@marketingmag
Seemingly crazy ideas, out of the box thinking – why are the problem-solving processes of the design disciplines are being tapped to drive innovation and market impact in 2015? By Michelle Dunner.
DESIGN THE DESIGN ISSUE
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22 INFOGRAPHIC
MARKETING APRIL | MAY 2015
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19/02/2015 11:29 am
THE DESIGN ISSUE
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40 BRAND STORY: XERO
The X-factor
E
diting this piece, out of the corner of my eye I’m watching the Twitter feed flick over. Some event called ‘Xerocon’ is on in the UK and the attendees look to be having a great time. Blue T-shirts, photo booth snaps, smart quotes from business/innovation keynote speakers stream through. The thing that’s hard to believe is that it’s all about accounting software. But that’s selling it short, as you’ll read in this interview. Since 2006, the New Zealand start-up has listed in two markets, grown to count revenues of more than NZ$70 million in 2014, and Xero offices now occupy the world’s major English-speaking markets. Behind the growth chart, there’s something about Xero that its users fall for. Mention the name to an owner of a small or medium business (SMB) and you’ll either get a blank look or a wave of almost giddy recognition. Is it just that it’s a cool brand and Kiwi start-up success story? Well, it was named by Forbes as number one in 2014’s list of the 100 ‘Most Innovative Growth Companies’. Or is it simply that, as a piece of software, it’s that good? It can do a lot of things: automatic bank and credit card account feeds, invoicing, accounts payable, expense claims, fixed asset depreciation, purchase orders,
reporting… not to mention features the 275 third-party vendors that have built add-ons bring through Xero’s open API. But keep reading and you’ll discover that isolating what brings that smile to a business owner’s face is not so straightforward, and that just breaking down Xero’s functions is not necessarily the most educative endeavour. So, in this interview, we ask Xero’s CMO, Andy Lark, about the secret to Xero’s success and, even more importantly, how he plans to keep it going.
marketingmag.com.au
There’s something about Xero. Accounting software shouldn’t be this lovable… should it? Peter Roper asks Xero CMO Andy Lark why and how.
Marketing: What’s your 2015 agenda for Xero as a brand and company? Andy Lark: I think it’s good to talk about Xero in two ways. One is, unlike the competitors in Australia, Xero is a global brand. It’s really about, in a large way, how do we continue to grow the brand in the traditional sense of ‘brand’. If you look at our marketing priorities globally, it’s a really interesting story because what you’re talking about is one of the fastest growing, if not the fastest growing, software as a service (SaaS) companies in the world today. It’s really a remarkable growth story. The vast majority of what we’re focused on is real growth, and whatever tactics lead to growth are the tactics we tend to pursue and the strategies we tend to pursue.
MARKETING APRIL | MAY 2015
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Company snapshot Name: Xero Limited Tagline: ‘Beautiful accounting software’ Type: Public (NZX and ASX) HQ: Wellington, New Zealand Other offices: Australia, UK, US Revenue: NZ$70.1 million (2014) Employees: 1000
@marketingmag THE DESIGN ISSUE
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