Walking into a sold-out IABC Victoria event earlier this month felt surreal.
Last October, I shared the stage at the Deb Ganderton Oration with Sally Capp AO, Ben Hart, and Rebecca Skelton - unpacking her journey from candidate to two-term Lord Mayor of Melbourne. That conversation resonated so deeply that IABC Victoria invited us back.
This time? A different panel. Different focus. Same lessons that keep proving themselves true.
30+ people on the waitlist. A room buzzing with questions about building movements, developing leadership brands, and implementing bold promises.
Not gonna lie, it felt good.
But more than that? It reminded me that the framework we used to elect an independent Lord Mayor works far beyond politics.
2017: Zero political experience
Before working on Sally Capp's Lord Mayor campaign, my background was corporate communications, retail, and stakeholder management. I'd worked at the Committee for Melbourne and Cancer Council of Victoria and built an online retail business.
Political campaigns? Not even on my radar.
When I joined Sally's executive campaign team as Digital Marketing Manager, I had no idea how campaigns "should" work. No established playbook. No insider knowledge.
Turns out, that was exactly what we needed.
2018: Building a movement from scratch
We had no party machine backing us. No establishment support. Just an authentic leader willing to show up as herself, and a digital strategy that prioritised genuine connection over political polish.
The approach was simple: when politicians zig, we zag.
While others polished their messaging and played it safe, Sally shared her cancer journey. She wore an Ewok costume to an early morning radio interview. She took the tram instead of the mayoral car.
And we amplified every authentic moment through strategic digital marketing.
2024: The proof of concept
By the re-election campaign during COVID lockdowns, when physical campaigning stopped entirely, the digital community we'd built over six years sustained the entire movement.
That's when you know you've built something real - when it survives without you constantly pushing it.
This month's IABC Victoria session - the first for the year - tackled three challenges every communications leader wrestles with:
Alongside Ben Hart and Rebecca Skelton, we unpacked the strategies, mistakes, and lessons from building Sally Capp's grassroots movement from zero to two-term Lord Mayor of Melbourne at the City of Melbourne.
The corporate skills that transferred:
The advantage of not knowing "the rules":
When you're not constrained by "how it's always been done," you bring fresh thinking that actually cuts through.
I approached Sally's campaign like I'd approach building a retail brand:
Political operatives would've told me that's not how campaigns work. Good thing I didn't know any political operatives.
For business leaders and marketers:
Don't apologise for being new to a sector. Your outside perspective is valuable. Ask "why do we do it this way?" when everyone else just accepts it.
Your corporate communications skills transfer better than you think. You just need to translate the context.
Speed creates opportunity
Sally Capp was an early adopter of authentic digital leadership - like Jacinda Ardern before her.
While other Australian politicians were still debating whether Instagram was "appropriate" for public office, we were already building community there.
Being early gave us:
Patience compounds opportunity
But here's where most organisations get it wrong: they move fast, find something that works, then jump to the next shiny tactic.
We found our approach in the first campaign, then committed to it for six years.
The execution:
That consistency built compound trust. By the time COVID hit and we needed that trust bank? It was already there.
For your business:
Get moving fast to generate opportunities and test what works. But once you find it, commit for years, not quarters.
Consistency + Time = TrustTrust = Top of Mind
Top of Mind = Conversion (when they're ready)
The pattern is the proof
The business that delivers a quality product every time earns customer trust.
The person in a relationship who shows up reliably - who keeps promises, who responds with steadiness - earns the trust of the other.
The brand that posts consistently, shares valuable insights, and maintains presence earns audience trust.
We weren't perfect. We were present.
Not every post was brilliant. Not every campaign moment was flawless. But we showed up.
4-6 times per week. With authentic updates, policy explanations, community moments, behind-the-scenes glimpses.
The compound effect:
By year three, we had a community that echoed our messaging without prompting.
By year five, diaspora communities in Hong Kong and Europe were organising their own voting campaigns.
By year six, when COVID locked us in our homes, the digital community sustained the entire re-election campaign.
For communicators and marketers:
Stop optimising for perfection. Start optimising for presence.
Pick a cadence you can sustain for 12 months minimum. Show up at that rhythm. Trust the compound effect.
Your audience would rather have consistent value than occasional brilliance.
The critical distinction
This is where most organisations get digital marketing backwards.
They think: "We need to be on social media, so let's create a persona that works for social media."
Wrong approach.
What actually works:
Sally's authentic leadership created the movement. Digital made it visible, measurable, and scalable.
We didn't manufacture grassroots energy through paid advertising. We identified what was authentically resonating, then built digital infrastructure to amplify it.
The proof it was real:
When people take ownership of your message and spread it without being asked - that's your signal.
We knew we'd crossed from campaign to movement when:
The infrastructure that scaled authenticity:
For your organisation:
If your leadership, brand, or offering isn't authentically differentiated, digital will expose that faster than anything.
But if it IS real? Digital becomes your force multiplier.
Audit your authenticity first. Then build the infrastructure to amplify it.
The fundamentals don't change:
Whether you're running a political campaign, launching a product, building a personal brand, or growing a professional services firm:
✓ Differentiation matters (when your industry zigs, you zag)
✓ Consistency compounds trust over time
✓ Early adoption creates competitive advantage
✓ Authenticity scales, manufactured personas don't
✓ Digital amplifies what's real, it doesn't create what's fake
The application for Melbourne businesses:
If you're a professional services firm, lifestyle brand, or B2B company trying to build trust in a crowded market:
This is exactly what we do at Mulberry Marketing for our clients across professional services and lifestyle brands.
My answer:
The risk isn't being visible. The risk is being silent while others define you.
In a world of misinformation and polarisation, if you're not telling your story, someone else will. And they won't get it right.
The reframe I use with reticent leaders:
Visible leadership doesn't mean:
It means:
The control argument:
Having a visible presence gives you MORE control over your narrative, not less. You're shaping the conversation rather than reacting to it.
Sally built trust over six years through consistent, authentic presence. When COVID hit, and she needed that trust bank? It was already there.
Leaders who avoid visibility? They're starting from zero trust when they can least afford it.
The honest answer:
You can't prove ROI on trust in one quarter. That's not how trust works.
But you CAN show leading indicators:
Metrics that matter for trust-building:
The education conversation:
We had to educate stakeholders that viral moments create spikes, not movements.
Consistent presence creates compound growth that looks boring month-to-month but transformative year-over-year.
Show them the 12-month trend, not the monthly variance.
The reality check:
You don't get to choose your timeline for trust. Your audience does.
But you CAN accelerate trust-building by:
The compound curve:
Trust-building looks like this:
Most organisations quit at month 6. The ones who win commit to year 3.
These IABC Victoria panels - from the Deb Ganderton Oration in October to this month's session - reminded me why I started Mulberry Marketing nearly 10 years ago.
The mission hasn't changed:
Help Australian businesses, particularly professional services firms and lifestyle brands, build authentic marketing that compounds over time.
What HAS changed:
The proof of concept is undeniable.
The framework that built a grassroots political movement works for:
The Mulberry approach:
We don't chase marketing fads or vanity metrics.
We build:
✓ Authentic differentiation (finding what's genuinely different about how you operate)
✓ Consistent digital presence (sustainable cadence that builds compound trust)
✓ Strategic amplification (paid + organic working together)
✓ Long-term relationships (clients stay with us for years because the results compound)
Our distinctive specialisation:
Just like Sally's campaign succeeded by reaching diverse communities authentically, Mulberry Marketing is one of few Australian agencies with genuine Chinese marketing capability (WeChat, Little Red Book/Xiaohongshu, Douyin, Weibo).
We help Australian brands reach Chinese-speaking audiences with cultural authenticity - not just translation, but genuine connection.
If you take nothing else from this post, remember:
If you're a professional services firm, lifestyle brand, or business leader looking to build authentic digital presence that compounds over time, let's talk.
At Mulberry Marketing, we specialise in:
Book a discovery call to explore how these grassroots movement principles can transform your business marketing.
Thanks to IABC Victoria for creating the space to share these insights, and to Sally Capp AO for trusting us to tell this story - from the Deb Ganderton Oration in October 2025 to this month's panel and beyond.
