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As the face of Barry Plant’s new marketing campaign, Louise Carrigg is unused to being in the spotlight – despite her longstanding experience as an industry leader.
That’s because the auctioneer and director of Barry Plant Ringwood and Heathmont regularly deflects any attention she gets onto the team surrounding her.
“You will very rarely catch me saying ‘I’, it’s all about ‘We’ in our office,” Carrigg recently noted.
But the offer to appear in the brand campaign meant bringing visibility not only to her outfit’s efforts and performance, but the network itself, following on from a rebrand late last year that has seen the business shake up its outward appearance.
In this new era, the brand evidently felt that Carrigg was the perfect person to embody its identity as it solidified its new public image.
“Louise is a shining example of excellence in leadership in both our network and industry, as well as a driving force for equality in the Barry Plant Group,” CEO Lisa Pennell said of the decision to feature Carrigg.
“It’s only fitting she has been the face of our most recent brand campaign, establishing our identity post the Barry Plant rebrand as a progressive group that embraces fairness, ethics, high performance and genuine care for all,” the CEO added.
As Carrigg describes it, she takes a human-centred approach to measuring business success, having faith that if her customers and team are happy, the results can’t help but follow.
“Leading by example is something I stay true to, you’re only as good as your people and they are what matters most of all. I have never been a numbers person; it’s the stakeholder that matters most, not the dollar signs at the end of it,” she explained.
Having started in the industry 12 years ago, she is no stranger to the fact that the market will exert pressure on the professionals within it, causing stress that can be hard to ignore.
She has run the Heathmont and Ringwood Barry Plant business for the past 10 years – overseeing a team that includes her husband, Chris, who helms the back-end operation – and sees helping her staff manage the stress of the job as integral to her leadership role.
“Real estate is like a roller-coaster and you have to learn to ride it,” she said.
“Celebrate the wins, address the challenges, but swiftly take rest – most need to learn the hard way, about overworking and burning out, but the quicker you learn to balance work and life cohesively, the better off you’ll be.”
For her, celebrating the wins includes enjoying the recent notoriety that the Barry Plant campaign has brought.
“It’s been both fun and unexpected, especially when my kids spot the ads and excitedly shout out, or we receive the ‘spotted’ messages from friends and family,” Carrigg said.
“But more importantly, being recognised by our local community fills me with a huge amount of pride for the work we do and the recognition we are earning.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Juliet Helmke
Based in Sydney, Juliet Helmke has a broad range of reporting and editorial experience across the areas of business, technology, entertainment and the arts. She was formerly Senior Editor at The New York Observer.
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