The Media Store
Imagine being able to go to work every day to help other businesses grow and flourish. That's what we get to do at The Media Store, help our clients find the right customers, at the right time to deliver their product or service messaging.
- Website themediastore.com.au
- Company Size 11-50
- Primary Location Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane
- Categories Digital Advertising Agency, Media Agency, On-Line Advertising
Overview
The Media Store was founded in 1997 as one of the first Australian independent media agencies. We plan and buy paid media for consumer brands across all channels, whether that be digital or more traditional channels such as TV, radio, press and out-of-home. If you’ve seen one of our client’s ads thank us, if you loved the ad, thank the creative agency who produced it.
Within marketing and advertising, media is the end of the value chain where we spend large advertising budgets for countless Australian brands and businesses. The Media Store is in the business of solving our client’s business and marketing problems through the lens of media. Media is an important part of the marketing mix for any business, as it is where money is spent that is often seen to have no tangible outcome. We make sure that outcome through our publisher and network partners IS tangible and meaningful by staying true to our proposition of Media Re-imagined.
We are founding members of the Media Federation of Australia (MFA), the Independent Media Agencies of Australia (IMAA), the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and Network One (a global network of independent agencies).
Culture
Our people philosophy is simple – if we place authentic value on our people as individuals, they in turn will place value on our clients.
We refer to it as the 100% care factor that sits at the heart of our business success. We genuinely care about our people – both their development as media professionals but also, as people who have physical, psychological, spiritual, and social needs.
Our culture is founded on two things – our business values and the 5 Ways of Wellbeing and these filter throughout everything we do.
We have 5 business values – Curiosity, Courage, Integrity, People First and All In. We recruit and reward staff based upon these behavioural traits.
Our Culture Club, who activate initiatives for our team, ensure everything we do ladders up to one or more of the 5 Ways of Wellbeing – Giving, Taking Notice, Connection, Being Active and Learning. Our belief is that if a team is committed to these five things, it will remain a mentally healthy place to work.
With a diverse age, cultural background, and gender mix and a senior leadership team skewed female, we remain committed to being a place where everyone belongs.
Meet the Team
Our team is full of passionate media professionals who truly want to re-imagine what media can do for our client’s business success. Our integrated team means that performance and digital experts sit alongside above-the-line planners and traders to provide holistic responses to client briefs. Coaching our teams are an experienced Senior Leadership team including a Head of Client Service, a Chief Strategy Officer, a Financial Controller, a Media Director, Chief Operating Officer, and Chief Executive Officer who are committed to developing and retaining best-in-class talent.
Innovation
What we do is a combination of science and magic. The science is our rigorous planning and tools, but the magic is our people, their ideas, their unique take on things. We are nothing without our people which is why nurturing, training, and allowing them to create their own way of solving problems is imperative.
To make sure we are constantly bringing the magic for our clients we use the 70:20:10 framework. 70% of what we recommend to our clients has to drive the results that we need. It’s what we call the brilliant basics, we have to deliver what we already know works. 20% of what we do has to grow their business by pushing the boundaries and stretching the opportunity. And 10% has to be pure innovation, something we haven’t considered before. Something that will help them stand out.
Over the past 26 years we have brought over 40 Australian media firsts to our clients. We love to partner with brave clients who will test and learn new formats, new channels, new technologies.
Operationally we are also constantly scouring the market to find new ways to be more efficient and effective, uncovering more time for strategic thinking.
Benefits
We strive to re-imagine media, to push the boundaries of what’s possible for our clients. We take our responsibilities to staff very seriously and strive to be clear in what they are. We know that we need to give our people every opportunity within a stimulating environment to perform at their best, develop their skills and grow in confidence.
The benefits we offer our people are all designed to help them enjoy and appreciate The Media Store experience as best they can and to reflect the value we place on our staff. We understand that the agency business can be very demanding on people’s time and can place further pressure on those around us outside of work – so some of our benefits attempt to ease that pressure from time to time.
Parental Benefits
Primary caregivers receive 8-weeks parental leave. First time parents receive a pram.
Flexible Work Arrangements
Hybrid working, TMS Anywhere, For You Day. Parents, time-off on children’s birthdays.
Professional Development
GO1 always-on digital learning, industry body training, coaching, DISC, emerging leadership.
Share Options
New business and staff referral incentives available
Health & Wellness
Annual flu shots, gym discounts, sport teams, days off post pitches, pilates/yoga.
Free Food
Fruit, snacks, drinks, coffee machine. Media publisher lunch n learns.
Diversity & Inclusion
Leadership sets the tone and we are fortunate to have a gender balanced ownership team in Jacquie (COO) and Stephen (CEO), who are committed to ensuring we place value on all people and ensure they feel a sense of belonging when joining.
As the first female Chair of the Independent Media Association of Australia, the driver behind the IMAA Diversity & Inclusion Council and the 2023 B&T Women in Media Executive Leader winner, Jacquie is a leader committed to high standards for diversity and inclusion within the agency and industry as a whole.
Our workforce is currently skewed female at 66% and all but one of our Senior Team are women. We have a diverse age, cultural background, and religious belief composition with 100% of our team believing they are treated fairly, irrespective of their race/sexual orientation/age/position, according to the Great Place to Work 2023 survey.
We have fostered a welcoming culture at TMS where all voices are heard, new ideas valued. Training & development and reward & recognition are offered to all staff, irrespective of position, tenure, and personal characteristics. We are a caring and motivating work family. 100% of our people believe TMS is committed to D,E&I.
Awards
Awards have never been our motivator for being both a great employer and a great business partner to our clients. However, celebrating our recent successes with our team is testament to this Aussie independent punching above its weight in the industry.
Over the past three years, we have been recognised for both our work, culture, and leadership;
2021
- MFA NGEN (emerging talent) Winners
- MFA Long-term Results Finalist – Federal Chamber of Automotive Industry
2022
- B&T Women in Media Winner – COO, Social Change Maker
- MFA Best Partnership Finalist – Seven Network
- MFA Agency Talent & Culture Finalist
- MFA Best Long-term Results Finalist – Toyota Motor Corporation Australia
2023
- B&T Women in Media Winner – COO, Executive Leader
- Australian Great Place to Work, 13th Best Small Workplace
- MFA Agency Talent & Culture Finalist
- B&T Best Use of Data-led Marketing Campaign Finalist – Simply Energy
Sustainability
The Media Store is proudly certified Carbon Neutral, by independent company Trace. We measure and monitor our emissions through their platform with the goal to reduce and then offset into social impact project investment both here in Australia and globally.
We are committed to being a socially responsible Australian business, so simply offsetting our emissions is just the first step. As a consequence, we now plant a tree in honour of all new starters via Carbon Positive Australia.
We continually review our operations with our internal Sustainability Champion to uncover ways to behave more sustainability. Some current policies and practices include offsetting our air travel, digitising processes, securing an office space with high 4.5-5.5 NABERS ratings, procuring 100% renewable energy from our client, Simply Energy, and recycling waste. We also volunteer as a team in Clean up Australia Day and our Sustainable Champion has just joined the IMAA Green Team to further explore how we can make a positive difference.
Recruitment Process
Our three core recruitment policy tenants are cultural fit, attitude, and aptitude. Whilst knowing your media craft is important for more senior roles, skills can be taught. What we look for is people who align with our vision and values, who have a passion for impeccable client service, continuous improvement, and a can-do attitude.
Our agency has always maintained a diverse representation of people who continue to bring an authentic care factor to our client’s business through collaborative, and honest relationships. We are an equal opportunity employer with people from many cultural and religious backgrounds, are gender and aged balanced and have had extensive experience hiring those with disabilities.
Unlike most recruitment processes, our model flips the traditional. Your first interview will be with the working team, for a more casual chemistry introduction to our agency culture. This is the place where you can ask all those curious questions about the role and what it’s like to work here from those on the ground.
Should you be successful your second (often final) round will be with your reporting Senior Manager and typically the COO (and CEO for SLT roles). This stage is to ensure alignment to our values and vision.
Charity Work
The Media Store has a philanthropic commitment since its inception 26 years ago. We are always looking for new ways to give-back to our communities and make a positive difference through our influence and media craft.
In 2023 we took on a pro bono client, Cure Cancer, in response to a number of our team members personal experiences with cancer. In our first campaign alone, we procured over $3.6 million of free media inventory for them to drive donations to support innovative research into all forms of cancer.
We love to support employee-led charity initiatives, the issues that matter to them. This can include Red Cross blood donation trips, Clean up Australia Day, UnLtd charity sporting team involvement and client-initiated golf days.
In addition to agency charity days, The Media Store offers staff three days of paid Community Service leave annually. This is to support any of our people who are involved in voluntary emergency management activities – where the activity involves dealing with an emergency or natural disaster and they are a volunteer member within a recognised emergency management body. So, if you are a member of the SES, RFS or RSPCA, we want to support your community contribution.
