An advertising professional has argued members of her industry have the skills to be prime minister after Scott Morrison was perceived as ill-equipped due to his background in marketing.

Mr Morrison, who stood down as Liberal leader after a crushing election defeat on Saturday, enjoyed a celebrated career in tourism and advertising prior to joining parliament in 2007. 

During his time as PM, he garnered the perjorative nickname ‘Scotty from marketing’, which was often proliferated online by Australians following unpopular decisions, such as his trip to 2019 Hawaii during the black summer bushfires.

But Executive Consultant Liza McNally says she does not understand why marketing was publicly viewed as inadequate previous profession for a prime minister.

‘As I start my Federal Election Day in Australia to the dulcet pings of unsolicited text messages from political parties, I’m left wondering why “Scotty from Marketing” gets such a bad wrap,’ she wrote on LinkedIn on Saturday. 

Liza McNally (pictured) has argued marketers make good leaders after former PM Scott Morrison notoriously attracted the negative nickname ‘Scotty from Marketing’

‘I’ll leave the merits or not of “Scotty” for another forum (with wine) but it’s the ”from marketing” that’s left me asking, why can’t a marketer run the country?’

Ms McNally said marketers broad set of abilities are transferrable across situations and they are able to deal with complex and highly vocal stakeholders, ‘most of whom think they’d make better marketers if they had the time’.

‘Marketers [also] identify the problems, draft a succinct brief, set measurable objectives, manage tight budgets that need high ROI [return on investment], [and] seek input from many groups,’ she said.

‘[They also] develops solutions with action plans for a myriad of audiences, actually deliver the action plans, engage to bring everyone on the journey, measure the success or not of the delivery, adapt quickly when situations change, keep calm in a crisis, and communicate, communicate, communicate.’ 

Ms McNally said the disparaging moniker was ‘ironic’ because his background was prominent in important aspects of his campaign. 

‘It’s feeling ironic today that the only political party to text me so far that includes a welcome opt out link is the one from the party led by Scotty….from marketing,’ she said. 

Scott Morrison’s nickname has proliferated online since it was created by satirical site The Betoota Advocate in 2018

Ms McNally listed 16 skills marketers possess that would make them good prime ministers

Scotty from Marketing could have learnt from from the President of Ukraine…

President of Ukraine stayed with his people as his country burned… Scotty hopped on a plane to Hawaii as ours burned…@ScottMorrisonMP pic.twitter.com/fPaU0jU1ZZ

— TR-68 (@TR68_KISS_ROCKS)

The post finished with the hashtags marketing, underrated, and value, with many commenting they agreed with her point. 

‘Couldn’t agree more. Good marketers and (product people) have a goody bag packed with incredible transferable skills. I think those skills are the same reason they make good CEOs,’ one woman wrote.

‘Agree…and not to forget just bloody good people too…and fun!’ another added.

‘This is why I shifted to “Scotty from photo-ops”,’ a third joked. 

Mr Morrison’s negative nickname ‘Scotty from marketing,’ was first used by satirical news website Beetoota Advocate in 2018, taking a dig at the former marketing executive’s public persona.

The term later proliferated online after his ill-timed Hawaiian holiday, frequently featuring in memes and hashtags. 

After serving as prime minister for four years, he was replaced by Anthony Albanese who was sworn in as Australia’s new leader on Monday. 

‘To my colleagues who have had to deal with very difficult news, and have lost their seats tonight, I as leader take responsibility for the wins and the losses,’ Mr told supporters at Liberal headquarters in Sydney on Saturday. 

‘That is the burden and that is the responsibility of leadership.’

The Liberal Party is expected to replace Mr Morrison with outgoing defence minister Peter Dutton. 

Raising a #democracysausage in the hope that today is finally the day we send Scotty from Marketing back to Hawaii. Permanently. #auspol #Auspol22 #AusPol2022 pic.twitter.com/ownWPsHeug

— James Verhoeven (@jimbob_prod)

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Marketing professional Liza McNally jumps to the defence of Scott Morrison

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