Mosmanite, leading brand strategist inspires tomorrow’s innovators
MOSMAN’S Dan Pankraz is a top advertising industry executive but still has time to give back to the community through inspiring the next generation of creative thinkers.
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MOSMAN’S Dan Pankraz is as comfortable pitching an idea to the chief executive of a global company as he is ferreting around a family’s garbage bin in the name of research.
As a leading brand strategist he might live a seemingly jetset lifestyle – but he keeps his feet firmly planted on the ground.
Mr Pankraz, 38, left a London gig with Nike Europe to return to his Mosman home in 2016.
The chance to bring up his growing family in Mosman was a selling point in his return home after “an amazing time” overseas.
“Every second week we were flying around, which was exhausting. But giving them the experience — the girls were four and two at the time — was amazing and I think we’ll probably go again at some point. But this is our base,” he said.
“Kids growing up these days, allowing them to experience different cultures is so important because we’ve got this global economy now.
“But there’s no better place in the world than growing up in Mosman. I absolutely love living here and it’s an amazing lifestyle.”
Mr Pankraz said Mosman was “a bit of a sanctuary”. “It’s a bit strange but I love running around the suburb at 10 o’clock at night after an intense day at work,” he said.
“Running along Balmoral then up Awaba and over to Taronga Zoo is my calm time. It’s an escape from the maddening crowd, in a way, and it’s the time when I often come up with my best ideas for work.
“Having lived in big metro cities like New York and London, where you can feel isolated despite the big population numbers, I love that Mosman is genuinely a community where everyone loves giving back.”
And it might sound like he is playing to stereotype, but Mr Pankraz is a Mosmanite who is genuine about giving back.
He is a passionate advocate for the innovative concept of “design thinking” and wants tomorrow’s innovators to be in tune with our evolving, globalised environment.
So, Mr Pankraz devised and is leading free Design Thinking children’s workshops in Mosman.
A couple of hundred inquiries later, there is keen interest for future sessions.
“My vision is to inspire the next generation of kids about how creativity and design thinking can actually help them solve problems,” he said.
“Education today teaches you the right way to do things, whereas design thinking and creative problem solving is about being empathetic and understanding people and their behaviour but then realising there’s a multitude of possibilities.
“Because the jobs that eight- and 10-year-olds today are going to have in their future are not the jobs we have today.”
Mr Pankraz cited the World Economic Forum’s Future Of Jobs report, which identified complex problem solving, critical thinking and creativity as the top three skills future workers would need.
“I’m not saying our schooling system is bad by any stretch but, right now, schools are not really teaching children about design thinking and creative problem solving,” he said.
“It’s about applying a process and a mindset to solve a problem through the eyes of being super empathetic.”
Empathy is also shaping innovation in advertising. Mr Pankraz, head of strategy and brand innovation at Leo Burnett Sydney, has worked in the industry in Australia and internationally for 18 years.
The Australian arm of the advertising multinational was the ninth “Most Awarded Agency in the World in 2016” and the highest-ranking Australian agency in the renowned Gunn Report, a global index of creative excellence in advertising.
Mr Pankraz has worked for numerous high-profile brands, from the creation of the global youth lexicon “Bom Chicka Wah Wah” for Lynx Globe in 2007, to a Fiji Airways campaign starring superstar surfer Kelly Slater in 2015.
Mr Pankraz said there had been a big shift in how brands behaved. “Brands today are less about broadcasting and more about providing services, utility, helping to make life easier. That’s what people want,” he said.
“So, what I do is less about making ads and more around what ideas and innovations can we come up with to make people’s lives a little bit better.
“Yes, we are trying to sell a product, but in a way that adds value to people’s lives.”
Mr Pankraz’s work on Samsung’s Pocket Patrol app in 2016 is one example of a brand aiming to improve lives — literally — in the digital innovation sphere he thrives in.
The augmented reality app, which helps to detect rips at beaches, was created at Leo’s Sydney with Surf Life Saving Australia.
“We did a small pilot in Queensland and it’s been hugely successful. We want to roll it out across Australia. Pocket Patrol could be a really useful tool to stop people drowning,” he said.
And, in order to aid people’s lives through “disrupting” the traditional view of brands, Mr Pankraz’s work involves a David Attenborough-esque approach.
“A big part of my job as a brand strategist is to help navigate a brand through culture and work out what they stand for, why they do it and how they communicate that to the world,” he said.
“A lot of it is the psychology of understanding people. So, even though I’m running a big department in a big agency, I still go to Penrith to talk to consumers.
“You’ve got to be connected to the real people that buy your product.”
Mr Pankraz even rifles through the odd rubbish bin for the purposes of ethnographic research. “People might say a lot of things but they actually behave quite differently,” he said.
“You might be talking to a mum who says, ‘I feed my kids really healthily’, and then you go into her home, you open the garbage bin and it’s all McDonald’s.
“So, our role is to uncover those nuggets ... and ask, how can we help change that behaviour and make people’s lives better?”
Mr Pankraz said the key to success in his industry was staying grounded. “You’re always learning, no matter how senior you are,” he said.
“And, if you’re not keeping your finger on the pulse of popular culture, you become irrelevant.”
There are spaces in the 11- to 13-year-old Design Thinking workshop in Mosman on Sunday, March 18. Email danpankraz@gmail.com
The Pankraz family’s favourite Mosman spots:
● Coffee spot: The family heads out for coffee and brekky at the Raw Food Hub as a Saturday morning ritual.
● Great outdoors: They also enjoy scooting and riding their bicycles along Middle Head Rd on Saturdays at 6.30am, which Mr Pankraz calls “a bit crazy”.
● Regular haunt: They love walking down the road to Burnt Orange for scones with their children.
● Sunday swimming: Breakfast after Balmoral nippers at Balmoral Beach Club, where they can catch up with friends, is a must.
● Family fun: And who could forget the perennial favourite, the wild and wonderful animals of Taronga Zoo? The children cherish every visit.