With the sacking of Alex Malley, Australia’s biggest content marketing experiment has failed
With the ignominious departure of Alex Malley from CPA Australia, Australia’s biggest and most expensive content marketing project has come to a drastic end. Unless they’re the founder, brands built around a CEO are a bad idea, argues Mumbrella’s Tim Burrowes
A decade ago I had to ask Richard Branson a delicate question.
What would happen to the Virgin brand if he died?
At the time, I was presenting a show about the media on a radio station, and Branson was in town to spruik a new Virgin Airlines route.
I couched the question as gently as I could. Given his record of risk-taking publicity stunts – including being rescued from the Atlantic from a ditched hot air balloon – was there, erm, a contingency plan for the brand he personifies?
Hey Tim, you are calling him Alex Halley in the article – we Halley’s are far more spectacular in our downfalls.
Thanks, Nic and Accountant,
Posted in haste (apart from the first half which I wrote on a palne a week ago because I suspected this day would come). Fixed now.
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
No bother & I’m dyslexic anyway, the only reason I noticed was because it was my surname.
Nice piece.
It’s Malley not Halley
$4.9m payout. No clawback.
“They were careless people, Tom and Daisy- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.” F S Fitzgerald
The board of the CPA should be thoroughly embarrassed and I hope they have apologized to the member base.
The immature narcissist who was the CEO managed to convince them they should spend money promoting him and not the organization and not the members.
Unforgivable. Hang your heads in shame.
Which jokers agreed his pay package and terms?
My first year accounting lecturer!
Ogilvy used a little rhyme to illustrate the danger of this:
“When the client moans and sighs
Make his logo twice the size.
If he still should prove refractory
Show a picture of the factory.
Only in the gravest cases
Should you show the clients’ faces.”
The board should be investigated. Alex managing to walk away with a $5M payout on top of an overblown salary is a credit to him and failure of the board. Great article Tim.
If this was an example for marketers then Im a blue goose.
A total disaster. The board will need to be subject to a public hanging and all the overpaid staff will need to get real.
At least members can look forward to a new regime that can probably halve their fees.
The question I would ask is why has Aston been so obsessed with bringing Malley down?? Just check out his Facebook and twitter accounts..Malley this, Malley that….It’s a bit personal Aston, don’t you think??
Who got hurt under malleys time as CEO, who lost Money… who is in a worse position than before he took on the reigns at CPA.
This has nothing to do with Malleys salary or self promotion, this has to do with a bunch of public practitioners who world was rocked by someone with vision.. let’s face it people hate change and no one more that the public practice members of CPA who think that their world will never be disrupted. Why are so many of them unsuccessful to moderately successful…because they spend more time complaining and moaning rather than doing….you all should be ashamed of yourself, you’re all more concerned about your own little worlds than the future of the profession. Ask young members their opinion of Alex..
As for Aston, mate there are many more causes of people being wrongly done by that you should take up…stop wasting valuable media on your personal vendettas…
This comment is a wonderful illustration of the true influencing power of content marketing.
No mate, I used to work at CPA so had first hand experience with what Alex was trying to achieve and first hand experience with public practice members. All they do is complain about change, they are so dillusional about the world and there worth as accountants that it’s scary. Most of these guys have purely bought themselves a job, no idea about business
Hey Mark, I also worked at CPA, and I found Alex to be a complete narcissist. There were no checks and balances in terms of the promotional spend. No problems with someone who had vision, and initially I thought the Neil Armstrong interview and subsequent promotion was pretty impressive. I started to wonder though when the first viewer numbers started coming back from the Bottom Line and they were extremely low and not seemingly connected with a clear corporate objective. i.e were we trying to reach younger people as has been stated, which Henry Winkler seemed a strange choice for interview subject, or just raising the profile of the organisation. Combine that with the huge spend to get the show online it started to worry a lot of people. The issue was that there was no real clear KPI’s. i.e if we spend xxx dollars we will benchmark that spend against the industry wide improvement of the salaries of the members. Or membership will increase by xxx. All they had to do was to make it really transparent about what the objective of the high spend was. Then put measurements in place to track it over the years. As it stands Malley’s brand is shot and CPA’s has taken a huge knock. I applaud Joe Aston, as he uncovered systemic subterfuge and will make CPA a much more transparent organisation. I don’t know too many people left at CPA who think Alex is anything than a self indulgent narcissist who should have stepped down a long time ago if he really believed in his own mantra of ‘making the worlds greatest membership organisation’
Why did Aston pursue Malley? Mark, come off it! This set-up screamed CEO narcissism, and stakeholders paid dearly. When did we ever have an Australian business scandal that was so obvious to even the casual observer? You just have to wonder why a decent media campaign took this long to happen.
And why did the marketing profession not ask more questions about the Malley campaign? The whole effort was highly dubious on its face.The Malley mug smiled down from half the billboards in the country, the Naked CEO brand was in every bookstore, and a pointless, pricey Malley talk show was on TV. If the CPA brand appeared on any of this collateral, it was barely noticeable. The entire campaign was selling Alex Malley, not the organisation that was paying the bills. This was marketing insanity performed in broad daylight.
As Tim pointed out, there is a ripper reason why marketers never build a marketing campaign around an appointed CEO: your investment eventually walks. Any marketer with half a clue could see that when Alex walked, the brand value would walk with him. Now he’s gone, and all that money “invested” in the Naked CEO and The Conversation is worthless.
Actually it’s more than worthless; it’s an embarrassment. The Naked CEO social media presence will die within weeks, the book will slip rapidly out of bookstores, and the TV show will never be seen again. All those poor bloody starry-eyed graduates who were so taken with Alex will learn a valuable lesson about the difference between pseudo-celebrity BS and reality. And CPA’s entire marketing effort will have to start over.
Meanwhile, Aston has almost singled-handedly saved CPA members many millions of dollars for each of the next few years. To suggest that he has pursued a vendetta is a bit like suggesting that Bob Woodward was unhealthily obsessed with Richard Nixon. Aston should win a Walkley.
Footnote 1: Mark, you need to know that most of the public practice members of CPA have figured out their world is being disrupted. Malley and his organisation, however, rarely discuss this whole issue. Instead we sit through endless yack about the “big life issues” from C-grade celebrities.
Footnote 2: An interview with the current CPA marketing chief on how all this happened would be really interesting. Tim?
I really believe the guy wanted to be Kochie or some other business commentator. How a professional organisation could be led by some board members and CEO with minimal corporate or private experience is beyond me. How on earth could they represent members. I think the payout will be linked to a contract including his social media content – similar legal issue when radio people left one station and wanted to continue their Facebook page and thus listener base. Or he put a fixed term period clause in his contract. The guy now has form with Macquarie Uni exit now this. Any future engagements of this man need to be viewed in the same light as Belle Gibson giving Health advice.
@Mark – completely disagree
I am a CPA and pay my annual fees voluntarily towards the professional body. My money is hard earned and it should not be wasted by the people entrusted to spend it on my behalf. That is the point here – huge amounts of money wasted!
While I personally feel Alex Malley did some great things initially to build up the CPA branding, you look at where it has now got to and it is a joke – billboards advertising Alex and his book (not even the mention of CPA anywhere!), outdoor ads for Alex in New York (no mention of CPA brand), funding tv shows for Alex that dont promote CPA brand.
I get that having a recognisable CEO is an asset to a brand, but what happened here went several miles past that point.. when all the advertising you see is about a person with NO MENTION of the brand, then my money is just being used for his promotion alone.
I for one congratulate the journalist for investigating this, bring it to light and ultimately – getting action.
Hope the next group in charge actually spend money on CPA ads and services.. really not that hard
Hi, do you think any of Joe Ashton’s reporting in this space was driven by his TV show on 9 being dumped for Malley’s? Hear he was none too happy about it.
Certainly though I think Alex has to accept he made it too much about him and not enough about the brand he represented.
Cheers
Hi Luke,
I know that supporters of Malley made that claim.
The fact that Nine/ AFR used to do quite a good business show on a Sunday morning that Aston had a slot on, and later after the show had ended, CPA bought its way into a similar timeslot, seems a pretty weak link. Indeed it seems like the sort of desperate shit somebody throws when they’re desperately looking for something to throw when they’re bang to rights.
Out of curiosity where did you “hear” it from?
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
Tim
What’s your relationship with Aston???
Hi Morris,
I’ve never (as far as I know), met him, swapped an email or spoken on the phone. But he’s one reason I subscribe to the AFR.
I see that you and Mark, in the comment thread above, share an IP address, are both big admirers of Alex Malley. What’s your relationship with Mark?
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
I for one have never seen Morris and Mark in the same room together.
Tim, you would surely notice that Aston takes aggressive positions on a small number of personal targets. Malley deserved a solid going over, as did others Aston has beaten up. Yet it did certainly have a personal edge. on the flip side he is extremely generous toward people like certain investment bankers, Liberals, and so on. He is also very liberal with references to his junket providers.
It does seem fair to assume that he is the poodle of his boss, notably when Fairfax is challenged by people like Singo or unions.
Talk of Aston’s motivations is beside the point. Bernstein didn’t like Nixon either (while Woodward was a registered Republican). All the motivation in the world doesn’t produce results unless there is something there worth uncovering in the first place. If there is, you get a story – or if the guy digs in, a torrent of stories.
This is our system. It kinda works. It’s the very worst system in the world except for all the others we’ve tried.
It’s not beside the point. For example Aston himself is worthy of analysis on the same grounds as Malley. Aston us a relentless self promoter. He parades the fact that he travels the world first class staying in expensive hotels – all apparently junkets. He often writes about his drunkenness to the point where it appears that he is a fairly desperate alcoholic. He has belted a few like Malley but he also is a total soft touch for others and looks mostly like a conduit for PR. All up I reckon Fairfax shareholders would not enjoy a complete view of Aston and his works.
So this article confirms that in hindsight most people have 20/20 eye vision
As a young accountant I volunteered as a student ambassador for the CPA when I was at university. I attended training at the organisation’s office in Brisbane, received monthly printout of the Naked CEO as well as weekly educational materials. I must say it was all about Alex Malley. I thought the dude bought the CPA Australia or something. I am glad the CPA has finally come to their senses ( of course under heavy pressure from members) to put an end to one man’s greed. However, I can’t believe after spending so much Millions of CPA’S money promoting himself, the organisation still allowed Alex Malley to walk away with $5M. What a good example from one of Australia’s leading Accounting regulating bodies. I now aspire to follow in Alex’s step….work my way up as a CEO, spend millions of dollars of the company’s money promoting myself, and maybe I will get a big pay cheque when my employment is terminated!! Bunch of hypocrites!
Putting aside the thread re malley and returning to the statement as to whether a brand built around a high profile CEO makes for good business…. The shareholders of T Mobile would say a resounding ‘yes!’. There’s always exceptions to the rule and it’s a rare freak that can pull it off.
For those who don’t know, T-Mobile CEO John Legere has a high public profile, like Malley.
The hard-to-miss difference is that Legere deploys his profile remorselessly to push the T-Mobile brand. He dresses only in corporate colours, often in branded T-Mobile gear. If he goes under a bus tomorrow, there’s nothing that T-Mobile will have to write off.
The contrast with Malley couldn’t be more bleeding obvious. Get yourself a copy of the CPA-funded Naked CEO book and try to find the CPA logo. See whether https://www.thenakedceo.com/the-book still works. (Answer: Nope.) Check whether the In Conversation sub-brand survived Alex’s departure by even one business day. (Answer: Apparently not. The website now redirects to the CPA homepage.)
Legere’s profile is all about T-Mobile. Malley’s profile was all too frequently not about the CPAs.
I wonder if we would be even having this conversation if Alex Malley hadn’t been paid such a crazy amount…?
It’s hardly a content marketing failure if we are all aware of the CPA (albeit presently for the wrong reasons), they are visible; they have been raising issues relevant to their market and beyond; they have been sharing knowledge; sharing personal stories people can relate to; they have been trying to make accounting cool, current and relevant in a highly competitive market and they have owned their space. In essence, they have been doing just about everything a content marketer is both told to do and dreams of.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m no fan of this CEO, his board or their governance practices, but if you step back from that, there probably isn’t an organsiation who wouldn’t be delighted with the results of this content marketing strategy.
I also disagree with the notion that unless it’s a founder, making the CEO a hero is a bad idea. Just look at David Thodey. You just have to go about it the right way and if this had gone the right way for the CPA, they would have had a tremendous presence and significant uplift in membership, which in turn results in profits and probably therefore a higher CEO salary.
Hi Tim,
While I agree the fall of Alex Malley and the misguided way he was promoted by CPA is fascinating, I disagree that content marketing failed or that it even was content marketing.
Yes, there was content. A lot of it. Yes, it was produced by a brand. But if you asked me, the content was a lot closer to PR and influencer marketing than anything like true content marketing. Was every piece of content developed to encourage readers and viewers to take some from of profitable customer action? I don’t think so. Was it designed to create an audience of loyal subscribers who depend on the content to help them make decisions in their work? Nope. Was it being measured on a regular basis to ensure CPA was getting a return for their investment? Obviously not.
I’m curious about the time frames you assign to content marketing. It’s a discipline that’s been going on for well over a hundred years. I’ve never seen anything that said it reached it’s height or peak in 2014. My experience has been business in Australia is just getting started on content marketing.
The sad truth of the whole sordid messed up affair is that Alex did have a vision, his own personal ” green light” glimpsed over the waters.
He simply wanted to be included on all those new year Channel Nine promos, alongside the guys from 60 Minutes.
His colleagues and buddies, in a manner of speaking.
With his own (company funded ) show on the Network it must have so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it as he interviewed all those A-Listers, just like Ray and Charles and Liz did.
Shame reality got in the way.
This borders on criminal. $4.9m payout?
I’ve been following this since the beginning when I met some of the staff who dared question the “strategy” & were exited. Always boggles the mind how under qualified narcissists get into significant leadership positions.
Richard Branson, Janine Allis, Ruslan Kogan – the other CEOs cited in this article, are also the founders of their business. They created and built the companies they fronted and I think are more deserving of being the face of their brands. Allan Malley on the other hand seemed to want to make him self a “brand” out of the blue, and simply for doing what he was employed to do: manage the CPA membership body. He’s no Richard Branson, that’s for sure…
It begs the question, does CPA have competition? I guess not. Why then would a marketing campaign of any magnitude make sense? Surely they must be up against the limits of their total market size already?
Chartered Accountants (CA)
It’s hard to believe it was left to Joe Aston and also the courage of the powers that be at the AFR to stick to this story to actually get this outrageous corporate excess cleaned up. This has to be the worst case of governance gone mad that I have seen in years. I note the early voices raising this scandalous situation were from corporate PR types who could clearly see the unethical nature of what was happening. It was their courage to say ‘this is wrong’ that gave me clarity of why I felt so uneasy every time I saw those posters at the airport. Now the full extent of the excess has become apparent. Thanks to the AFR and Joe. Well done all. The only bitter taste- the massive payout. I mean- really?
Ohhhhh the irony. Possible only Fairfax that has failed more spectacularly when it comes to content marketing?
https://staging.mumbrella.com.au/fairfax-boss-greg-hywood-going-get-content-marketing-business-188456
Hywood still getting paid more than Alex Malley ever did.
If only Joe Ashton was prepared to wage a similar campaign relating to Fairfax Media’s commercial strategy over the last 5 years. AFR’s faux outrage relating to self interest and promotion struggling for credibility in context of Fairfax senior management. Please see history of Domain / MMP and associated dealings;
https://www.businessinsider.com.au/the-sons-of-fairfax-medias-greg-hywood-and-antony-catalano-have-launched-a-media-startup-2014-9
Is that you Alex?