Get to know Ashley Hughes, Red Rooster's new Director of Marketing
A large part of his role will involve the implementation of the brand's 'foundational work'.
QSR Media: What makes you excited about your position?
This was an exciting new challenge for me and the perfect opportunity for me to leverage my experience. I’m excited about the prospect of leading an iconic Australian brand like Red Rooster and helping it to find its place and role in an ever-evolving category. From a personal perspective this is a great leadership opportunity whereby I can set and lead the strategic direction for the brand and build a high performance marketing team. It’s a challenge I welcome at this stage of my life and career.
QSR Media: What are your key business philosophies?
- Be honest and authentic – people will respect you
- Take risks (ideally educated ones) – some will pay off
- Always look at what your doing from the outside in
- Don’t be afraid to say no
QSR Media: What goals are you focused on?
I am keen to develop a role for the Red Rooster brand in culture and establish a deeper emotional connection between Aussies and the brand. So many people have fond memories of growing up with Red Rooster, but it’s just not top of mind or one of their main go-to options, as choice has proliferated in the category. We also need to deliver consistent transaction and sales growth through maintaining our current user base and driving significantly greater penetration.
QSR Media: What long-term changes are you planning on?
A large part of my role will involve the implementation of ‘foundational work’ at Red Rooster. This will largely involve the review and optimisation of our current core menu offering to ensure it’s delivering to consumer needs, whilst not making it too hard for our restaurant teams to execute and ensuring that we are optimising margins and profits for our franchisees. What’s more, our core product needs innovation and new news – especially with regards to the core roast chicken offering.
From a communication and messaging perspective, we need to ensure that each and every customer touch point is working as hard as it can to deliver clear and effective cut-through. We also need to enhance and increase our social media presence whilst cleverly investing in mainstream and emerging media channels for maximum efficiency and effectiveness.
QSR Media: What previous positions have prepared you for this one and how?
The most significant background experience and preparation (aside from my actual years in chicken and QSR) for this role, I believe has been my time in finance. Basically, an understanding of business financials that impact franchisees is absolutely vital. It helps inform and shape the activity we put into restaurants and ensures that we are making the best financial decisions possible for both the restaurant and our customers.
