Adam Pinto, Head of Industry Strategy, News Australia
If the tools to drive growth have never been more automated, why does growth feel harder than ever to achieve?
The uncomfortable truth is this: growth isn’t failing because clients lack tactics, platforms or technology. It’s failing because too few people are accountable for deeply understanding the industries those tactics are meant to drive growth in.
At News Australia, we introduced dedicated Industry Specialists across Health & Wellness, Travel, Retail, Finance, Insurance, Superannuation, Entertainment and Sport.
When growth was easy, tactics were enough
For years, our industry has chased growth by launching new products, expanding reach and being salient for longer. That works when growth is easy. But growth isn’t easy anymore.
Consumers are harder to reach and far more selective in who they trust and where they spend. And clients can’t afford to simply outspend or outshout competitors and hope something sticks.
Lucky for us, growth advice is abundant… influence culture, use tech, buy signals, show up in context, be creative, collaborate, AI yourself…. all of it might be true, but if that’s the case, why do so many brands still struggle to grow?
Well, you can deliver messages optimised by algorithms that still land out of context. You can spark great ideas, only to lose momentum when they require the involvement of a village. And you can build campaigns around reach principles and still fail to move the needle. This disconnect is where the real growth problem sits.
Listening before scaling
At News Australia, we wanted to rethink how we support our clients’ growth ambitions. Adding more scale or chasing cut-through with shiny ad tech wouldn’t be enough. So we listened more closely.
Clients told us they feel immense pressure, but don’t see category-specific solutions from the market to relieve it.
What became clear is that clients don’t just need modern media tactics. They need partners who better understand the industries where those tactics are meant to drive growth.
Like most organisations, we have many talented generalists. But when industry understanding is owned by a dedicated specialist, performance lifts. Growth decisions are clearer, internal focus sharpens and servicing moves from campaigns to partnerships.
The value of industry specialism isn’t theoretical. When it enters the room, briefs improve, timelines collapse, and growth conversations shift from media placement to business outcomes.
Our new Industry Leads are our response to a market where surface-level industry knowledge is no longer enough and where category context and complexity must be understood with conviction.
These game-changing new hires partnered with clients to build bespoke advocacy initiatives, like Think Again in partnership with Specsavers Audiology, POE content ecosystems, and longer-term ownable platforms that drove supplier revenue, such as the one-of-a-kind partnership between Chemist Warehouse and Body+Soul to create the House of Wellness.
Their understanding of regulatory constraints, combined with stronger insight and a network of global specialists, uncovered more relevant commercial opportunities for clients.
But Industry Specialists aren’t advisors on the sidelines. They’re embedded growth partners within our ecosystem, measured on internal alignment, partnership quality and industry impact, not just sales revenue. They take accountability for growth decisions that are too complex and long burning for sales or publishing to solve alone.
That accountability is the difference.
For agencies, it means access to specialists who can challenge assumptions early.
For clients, it means a partner who truly understands the pressures, rules and commercial opportunities of their industry.
For sales and publishing, it means clearer direction and stronger narratives to power sales conversations and drive reader engagement.
So why has growth felt so hard to achieve?
Because growth can’t be automated, scaled or optimised into existence.
Growth is earned by staying in the work longer than others will, by understanding industries deeply enough to make better decisions when it matters most and by applying specialist human judgment.
In a market obsessed with speed, shortcuts and scale, the advantage now belongs to those willing to be more deliberate, go deeper and take accountability for growth. That’s the shift. And that’s where real growth comes from.