Michael Hill’s Jo Feeney gets the power of being adaptable as a CMO. Having spearheaded a full brand relaunch and reposition of the retail jewellery brand up into the premium space over the last four years, and knowingly making a few ‘controversial’ yet evidence-based decisions in her first 90 days, she’s also been the epitome of her chosen style as a CMO: Creative, transformation and data-driven.

But the marketing term she would like us all to stop using is ‘agile’. “Let’s not use it to excuse lack of strategy,” the experienced marketing chief comments, with a nod to her very strategic intent inside the ASX-listed retailer.

It’s also arguably why, when asked whether she’s data or creative first, Feeney says “data by a nose”. “Data fuels creativity, creativity with no data can be risky. Data informed, creatively led.”

Discerning decision making

Feeney fesses up to making several ‘controversial’ decisions in her first 90 days back in 2021 – all evidence-based decisions that challenged the status quo, she argues. One of those immediate steps was investing in brand tracking to measure the Michael Hill brand against key growth drivers and redefined customer segmentation.

“But arguably the most transformative decision was the reallocation of marketing investment, shifting 60 per cent of advertising funds into brand building, a move unprecedented in the company’s history,” Feeney says. “To build the future, we had to honour our past. Few customers knew that behind the brand stood two founders: Sir Michael and Lady Christine Hill – a story waiting to be told. With a finite budget, I made the call to eliminate paper catalogues – once filled with product and price – and redirected those funds to crafting a brand narrative that would resonate deeply with consumers.”

No small call: One-quarter of the marketing budget was spent on catalogues, versus 0.2 per cent on digital channels. “Our media mix was simply not driving outcomes, and I changed this entirely in year one,” continues Feeney.

This history didn’t just shape Feeney’s subsequent approach to brand storytelling, it’s inspired every element of the Michael Hill rebrand. The colour palette itself draws from the landscape of the retailer’s birthplace, Whangārei, New Zealand.

“Slotted between our retail calendar, brand investment gained us ESOV and attention, converting our historical trough periods into peaks,” says Feeney.

Effective marketing strategy

Big changes needed to happen to reach this point. It was evident to Feeney when she joined Michael Hill that baseline sales were shrinking, and growth was being driven by deep discounting tied to retail events  such as Valentine’s Day or Christmas. Future demand wasn’t a consideration and brand health hadn’t mattered.

“The challenge was clear: Deliver enduring growth. Short-term sales bumps through aggressive discounting were easy, but they weren’t a strategy, nor were they sustainable. We needed to build future demand,” says Feeney.

Extensive qualitative and quantitative research revealed a transformational opportunity: Michael Hill was stuck in the ‘messy middle’ of mall retailers, which meant the retail business was undifferentiated, over-reliant on promotions, and losing relevance. The whitespace? “Position the brand just below luxury players like Tiffany & Co. to attract a higher-value customer who was actively spending on jewellery – just not with Michael Hill. This was a customer segment with both the means and the appetite for fine jewellery,” notes Feeney.

The ‘Brand Reappraisal journey’ has ended up a rediscovery of Michael Hill’s origins as a fine jeweller.  It’s even earned the moniker of one of the most significant brand transformations in Australian marketing history by Russel Howcroft on Gruen Transfer.

“When I joined Michael Hill, two critical things stood out: A lack of customer data and insights and as a result too much distance between our customer and management,” Feeney says. “The voice of the customer was absent. Without it, how could we ensure future growth and understand what we were chasing?”

So she prioritised research into how the retailer could attract the higher-value customer without alienating its core. Using this, Feeney aligned leaders across retail, product, and ecommerce, ensuring marketing’s influence extended far beyond campaigns. The tangible impact of this strategy thus far are brand portfolio expansion efforts through the acquisition of Bevilles (value brand) and the launch of Ten Seven (premium offering).

Product elevation was Feeney’s second area of business impact: “The brand reappraisal set new quality benchmarks, leading to the elimination of subpar products and the launch of High Jewellery, a category that did not exist at MHJ before,” she says.

Retail footprint optimisation was another area of focus, and stores were redistributed across the new portfolio, ensuring alignment with each brand’s positioning. A flagship store strategy was also embraced and launched in the Melbourne suburb of Chadstone in May 2024. Ecommerce innovation didn’t miss out either, and Michael Hill has invested in UX and CX, including Ten Seven Seven’s world-first digital ring builder, giving customers unprecedented customisation.

Then there’s the brand identity refresh. “The fastest way to signal change was through bold, modern brand assets, moving away from an outdated aesthetic to a fresh, stylish, and contemporary identity, while telling our brand story with authenticity,” Feeney says. Helping the first reappraisal campaign along was Michael Hill’s newly signed ambassador, Miranda Kerr.

According to Feeney, Kerr’s impact has been transformational, opening doors previously closed to the brand both in consumer perception and exposure, with an estimated PR value five times over initial investment.

“The brand reappraisal strategy at Michael Hill is built on three core pillars: Product quality, customer experience, and brand perception. The transformation aligned product, retail, and marketing, ensuring a holistic, strategic shift that elevates both brand equity and commercial performance,” adds Feeney.

Business influence

Through all of this work, Feeney has had to build business influence. For example, to elevate product quality and exclusivity, marketing played a pivotal role in reshaping the product strategy to reinforce Michael Hill’s position as a true fine jeweller.

“Through brand tracking, we knew how critically important this element of the equation was, so we began by removing less quality lines and implementing stricter quality protocols,” explains Feeney.

Meanwhile, the retailer has been shifting focus from mass-market key volume lines to exclusive, differentiated collections, such as Spirits Bay, designed by Lady Christine Hill and launched for Mother’s Day. It’s also introduced signature brand assets such as the Signature Lock.

“The brand repositioning extends beyond product – it’s about delivering an elevated experience that resonates with high-value customers,” continues Feeney.

Hence the retail transformation, moving away from discount-driven selling toward a more personalised, service-led approach, which she admits is still a work in progress.

“The brand reappraisal included step-by-step instructions for our 270 stores to increase compliance ensuring consistency of experience,” Feeney says. “We’re redefining out customer journey’s instore, re-mapping our VM to be customer experience led, totally resetting the way our stores were laid out.”

One of the most significant of the 4Ps – Pricing – has also been in Feeney’s sights, and she describes Michael Hill’s more nuanced approach as “smarter, more strategic discounting”. Ultimately, it’s about providing reasons to buy without resorting to discounting.

In addition, Feeney took on loyalty reinvention through a new-look MHJ ‘Brilliance’ program, which has grown from 600,000 to 2 million members today. Her team are now using the Brilliance loyalty program to drive more profit through targeted, personalised offers based on predictive propensity modelling. It’s led to loyalty purchasing equalling one-quarter of total sales and becoming the most profitable customer cohort in the business.

Data-driven decision making

Building a brand is a long-term investment, but performance is scrutinised at Michael Hill quarter by quarter and even day by day. To champion data-led decision making that can straddle short and long-term needs, Feeney established a data insights team. While reporting into the CMO, their whose work spans the entire business.

“Our brand reappraisal strategy was born from rigorous diagnostics, identifying a clear white-space opportunity to reposition the brand and attract higher-value customers, where we were previously significantly underrepresented,” she says. “The success of this investment is measured in tangible outcomes: Did we attract the high-value customer, and their increased spend as forecast? The answer lies in the numbers, proving that a strategic, evidence-led approach to brand-building delivers measurable commercial impact.”

After three years in negative growth, the subsequent three years delivered positive growth in group sales revenue at ASX-listed Michael Hill in a tough retail climate: +13.1 per cent (2021), +7 per cent (2023) and +9.8 per cent (2024). Feeney also cites sales increases across its growth customer segment, with net transaction value growing grew 9 per cent against the existing customer base. Across maintained segments, net transaction value also rose 11 per cent.

To get to these figures, Feeney’s team calculates the Marketing Efficiency Ratio (MER) by dividing the increase in revenue by the marketing spend, providing insight into how effectively marketing investments drive top-line growth.

“During this time period we ran fewer, deeper promotions, we did not increase our retail footprint, the most compelling change we made was investing in brand,” she says. “For Michael Hill in 2023, the revenue increased from $595.2 million in 2022 to $630 million in 2023, a $34.8 million gain. With a $25 million marketing budget, the MER is 2.33. This means that for every $1 spent on marketing, Michael Hill generated $1.39 in additional revenue. Unlike traditional ROI, which focuses on profit returns, MER highlights marketing's direct impact on sales growth, making it a valuable tool for evaluating marketing efficiency and budget allocation.”

It’s worth noting this was done on a $7 million reduction of marketing budget in 2023 from the year prior and facing into the tough economic headwinds.

Commercial delivery

“Marketing has been the driving force behind our brand reappraisal strategy, which has evolved into a business-wide transformation as we seek sustained growth,” continues Feeney. “This strategic shift has demanded seamless cross-functional integration, shaping everything from product development to retail execution, while simultaneously launching Ten Seven and acquiring Bevilles, securing category dominance.”

“Marketing’s role has been unequivocal: Redefining our brand, elevating its appeal, and unlocking new growth pathways that position Michael Hill for long-term success. Given the headwinds of the last 24 months, the growth in revenue has been reassuring.”

People leadership

As a CMO looking to realise her ambitions, Feeney knew she had to make two critical shifts to reposition marketing as a driver of growth inside Michael Hill. The first was restructuring her team to support both brand and retail, then ensuring new data insights team were fully embedded across the organisation.

“I transformed the team structure from siloed, campaign or product-focused teams into collaborative, cross-functional teams. I brought together CRM, data and insights, Visual Merchandising, ecommerce, Brand and Campaigns into one integrated unit, a first for Michael Hill. While this shift required an adjustment period, the results were undeniable: More cohesive execution and greater ownership of outcomes which had a direct impact on business performance. Previously, no one person had full end to end ownership of a program of work,” she says. “There was no true accountability, we did not have marketing discipline.

“These foundational changes have not only streamlined marketing performance but have also redefined its role within the business. Marketing is now seen as a strategic growth engine, enabling the entire organisation to work in lockstep toward our north star: Sustained growth through a strong, future-fit brand.”