Stop looking sideways: How thinking outside your category drives innovation
Anthony Hill, Head of Customer Experience
Flinders University 🇦🇺
Ever feel like the higher education sector looks, sounds and feels the same? We’re here to break that mold. In this session, I’ll share how at Flinders University, we're thinking outside the box, by looking inside other boxes. Discover how we're borrowing from other industries like retail, tech, entertainment and lifestyle to reimagine our approach to digital storytelling, email engagement and prospective student journeys. You’ll leave with fresh inspiration, actionable examples and a roadmap for standing out, not by just watching your competitors, but by looking beyond the category entirely.
Key takeaways
Understand how relying solely on your own industry for inspiration leads to blending in.
See that innovation isn’t always about reinventing the wheel, sometimes it’s about borrowing ideas from elsewhere.
Know where to look for inspiration outside your category and how to adapt best-in-class ideas for your own industry.
Over the past 20 years, Anthony has built a diverse career tackling complex, human-centred challenges across fashion, finance, insurance, FMCG, and utilities in the UK, Asia and Australia. Now Head of Customer Experience at Flinders University, he’s bringing that cross-industry insight to reimagine the student journey and challenge traditional approaches to higher education.
With deep expertise in strategy, service design, and digital transformation, Anthony is focused on embedding a customer-first mindset across the university and driving meaningful change through practical innovation and evidence-based customer insights.