When Jasmine Robertson’s non horsey parents finally gave into her pleas for a horse, they got her a retired racehorse for her eighth birthday. Not the most conventional choice for a first mount, but it sparked her life-long passion for Thoroughbreds.
Founding her business, Ziba Creative, two years ago, Jasmine and her team have carved out a niche as the go-to specialist equine marketing agency for delivering campaigns with the wow factor.
The hashtag ‘dare to be different’ sums up the Ziba ethos, and Jasmine’s approach to life.
Now based in Cambridge, Jasmine grew up near Levin and was horse mad from day dot. She never suspected her passion for the animal would land her in the Thoroughbred industry, and take her all around the world.
While studying at Massey University, she worked in the yearling yard on a Thoroughbred stud over the summer and in the foaling unit over winter, and fell in love with the industry. After four years, she realised the hands-on role wasn’t affording her the lifestyle she desired to build for herself. On doing some research, she spotted a gap in Thoroughbred marketing and undertook post-graduate study in marketing.
This career has taken her from England and Barcelona to working for the biggest auction house in Australia and back to New Zealand, in a range of marketing roles, including as marketing manager for Waikato Stud. Two years ago she took the leap of faith, resigned, and started her own agency. Since then, she’s barely had time to draw breath, and Ziba continues to go from strength to strength.
I wanted to find out how she made it all happen, what makes her tick, and how other businesses can up their social media game.
Describe yourself in 3 words? Competitive, hard-working, deep.
What are the hallmarks of a Ziba campaign? For a branding campaign, for say a stallion, we look at the key selling points for that stallion and endeavour to market that horse in a unique way that makes it stand out. We spend hours researching and curating marketing content around those points, incorporating it into all the brand messaging and copy. Our client campaigns are always super slick because we adhere to really strict brand guidelines.
Consistency is one thing that we really pride ourselves on, and the way we deploy things. For a stallion this will be right from the launch video and initial advertising, and rolled out from there.
One thing that’s quite unique to Ziba is that I love a hype video! I think it’s great to let people know that there is something exciting coming to build extra suspense. The marketing space is so noisy so we have to look at how to make the most of this one opportunity and hook people in.
Top tips for utilising social media? It’s a minefield and it can be overwhelming. It’s so freaking hard to stick to, especially when you’re busy, but there are some key things you can do that I promise will help.
1. Develop content pillars: Do some research and look at your business from an internal and external perspective. Ask yourself, who do I want to engage with, what will they like to see?
- Education: Sharing your knowledge. Education cements your position of authority. For example we shared an app we use for recording interviews. I love it for us and I get a big thrill when people message us and say ‘that was so helpful’.
- Personalisation: This is a big one. Personalisation of your brand, showing the people behind it, your workspace, information about who you are. When people contact you, they have already seen you and feel like they know you – there’s buy-in already.
- Fluff: This is the day-to-day stuff, and ‘feel good’ content.
2. Schedule: Come up with some content, then decide how often you want to post. Create a schedule (you can schedule posts on Facebook and Instagram at the same time). Sit down for a few hours a month, schedule that content and let it roll.
3. Canva: For people who don’t have access to a designer, Canva is great. We use it in some situations, and there is a free plan option which is super helpful! If you’re putting text on our Insta/FB photos or grabs, find a template and stick to it. The human eye is trained to search for consistency so avoid mixing a bunch of different font styles on your feed.
4. Use the right account: Check you are set up as a business account, rather than a personal one.
5. Research hashtags: If you get the formula right hashtags can be very helpful for your reach.
6. Investigate reels: Reels (on Instagram) drive so much organic engagement.
Favourite racecourse/race meet? I love Royal Randwick Racecourse in Sydney. It was probably my first real experience with the prestige of Australian racing. In terms of meetings, it would be Derby Day at Royal Randwick. A very narrow second would be when I was in Paris, and my partner at the time and I went to a Longchamp race meet. Through a connection from Cambridge Stud we spent the day with a trainer. He had a winner and we wound up on the podium – everyone was congratulating us in French and handing us gifts. We had dinner in a beautiful restaurant overlooking the course. The whole experience was really surreal.
Most memorable racing moment? Something very special to me is the horses we have bred. I’ve bred a few Thoroughbred mares and the first foal we took to Sydney to the Ready 2 Race sale as a two-year-old in 2019. My partner at the time was a trainer, we sold him for A$80,000, 17 times his sire’s service fee, and I took him through the ring. The breeding side is my big passion and it’s a goal in life to have some nice broodmares of my own, breed a few and race them – that’s the big drawcard for me.
Advice to others starting out in business? A lot of people ask me how to get into my position. My advice is to work in as many areas as possible of whatever business you want to get into. I think you need to check off the things you do and don’t like, and you may be surprised where your journey takes you. I always thought I’d be foaling horses and working hands-on with them, not owning a marketing agency! Find an industry you’re passionate about and really investigate it.
Best advice received? Live in the moment. A couple of years ago, I realised that I had spent most of my life looking forward to things happening in the future, like goals I wanted to achieve or trips I was planning to take. I was so focused on these that I was forgetting to enjoy every day life. Build a life that you wholeheartedly love and surround yourself with people who respect and care about you and you will live a very full and happy life.
Dream way to spend a day? Is it bad that I love working? But otherwise I’d love to be sitting on a beach somewhere, maybe in the South of France, with a bottle of champagne and a really nice cheese board, with the people I love. I love chilling out (I’m physically very lazy), and I love my friends and family.
What’s one thing you can’t live without? Bella, my dog. She’s my little companion, always there.
What are you listening to/reading? One thing I preach about all the time is a podcast called Do You F*****g Mind? She’s from Australia and is a neuroscientist – I love her! I have experienced a lot of growth over the past couple of years and have dealt with some difficult things, but she gives you a kick up the arse and, coming from a science point of view, gives you an insight into why feelings and thoughts arise and the tools to deal with them.
I’m a nerd and if I read books, they’re about marketing. I find it therapeutic to read a few chapters before bed. My marketing idol is Seth Godin, I look up to him so much. I have read his book This is Marketing about 10 times, and he has a new book called The Practice, which I’m reading at the moment. He’s very practical and talks about psychology and unpacking what that looks like.
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