INSIGHTS
What we actually think - about growth, strategy, tech and what works.
Frameworks, working notes, and things we've learned from building marketing systems across financial services, considered-purchase consumer, industrial, and media businesses. Some of it is long-form thinking. Some is shorter - closer to notes than essays. All of it is written by Tim, not a content team.
"Most marketing content tells you what you want to hear. I'd rather share what we've actually seen — including the parts that didn't work, and why. If something here challenges how you're thinking about your own growth model, that's the point."
— Tim Parkman, Founder
Beyond Google: How NZ Brands Build Visibility in AI Search (Starting with Reddit).
The search landscape is changing faster than most NZ brands realised. Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity now decide what gets seen - and they all lean heavily on Reddit and user-generated content. Here's how to build visibility across the new AI-powered search ecosystem, with a practical Crawl → Walk → Run framework for getting started.
The Creative Edge: Why AI Volume Isn't the Advantage - Human Judgment Is.
AI can now generate 100 ad variants in an afternoon. That sounds like a breakthrough. The problem is, so can everyone else - and most of it lands the same. Volume was never the edge. Here's what is.
Fast, Flexible and Ready in 24 Hours: How Content Production Has Evolved
Last Friday’s ½ day Corporate Cabs shoot captured 145 photos and over 3 mins of video — all shot, edited, and ready within 24 hours. Modern content production has evolved: faster, leaner, and guided rather than scripted. (Even if the Auckland weather hasn’t caught up yet.)
Is Your Best Marketing Channel Secretly Holding You Back?
For many, a core channel – perhaps consistent search traffic, a steady stream of referrals or a highly engaged social platform – is the sole lever in their signal box. It's a heavy, reliable piece of equipment, firmly engaged, guiding all traffic down one successful path... until it doesn't.
What We Learned Moving from ‘Digital Agency’ to ‘Growth Partner’
Everything changed when we stopped chasing shiny things and started building marketing systems CEOs can trust — the Unfold Digital story of growth redefined.
What Is a Mortgage Trust? It’s Simple — We Just Can’t Say It Like That
Let’s be honest: explaining what a mortgage trust is shouldn’t be that hard. Banks do it all day, every day. They take in term deposits. They lend that money out as mortgages. They earn interest. You earn interest. Straightforward, right? Not so fast…
Jobs To Be Done Changed the Way We Work — Here’s Why It’ll Change Yours Too
Who’s your target market? What’s your unique angle? Where should we spend your budget?
It worked. Sort of.
But we kept running into the same wall…
The Brand You Can Build Through Performance.
Everyone talks about building a brand — but only the big players get handed the playbook. This post shows what happens when a challenger brand flips the script and builds brand the hard way: through performance. No billboards. No bloated media buys. Just smart, connected marketing that earns trust and drives results.
Break the Pattern. Difference Is the Strategy.
Ever wandered down a supermarket aisle, only to realise you’ve stopped seeing the products? A wall of sameness where everything blurs into everything else. That’s exactly the problem Van Leeuwen Ice Cream had.
Marketing Doesn’t Need a Redo. It Needs a Rethink.
Most marketing is built to impress — not perform. This post lays out why that approach fails fast (especially for brands without dominant market share), and how a 5% mindset and connected ecosystem can change everything.
Awareness. Performance. But What About What Happens in the Middle?
Everyone loves to say Radio’s for Brand and Search is for action. But what if they work better together? This post looks at what happened when we layered a trusted sponsorship on top of an existing Radio plan — and how it lit up Search activity in ways no one expected. Sponsorship isn’t soft. It’s performance, amplified.
“How long should a video be?” Wrong question.
We’ve all heard it — attention spans are shrinking, keep it short, no one watches long videos. But here’s the truth: people do watch long videos. Just not boring ones — and be careful how you define boring.