From Global Brands to the Classroom: Hannah Ellerkamp Joins ICMS as Associate Lecturer

A marketing career spent launching cars, reinventing spirits and bringing a 50-year-old Scottish whisky to Australian shores has landed at ICMS, where new Associate Lecturer Hannah Ellerkamp is bringing the real world straight into the classroom. 

Hannah joined ICMS this trimester as an Associate Lecturer teaching across the Bachelor of Business (Fashion and Global Brand Management), Bachelor of Business (Entrepreneurship and Innovation) and Bachelor of Business (Marketing) degrees.  

“I joined ICMS this trimester as an Associate Lecturer, and I am already loving it,” she said. 

Right now she is co-piloting two subjects – Entrepreneurship Foundations and Mindset  and Global Citizenship – while helping to redevelop a marketing subject.  

From next trimester, she steps up as lecturer across both Marketing and Entrepreneurship. 

A career built on big names

Before teaching, Hannah built an enviable resume across the consumer goods and automotive industries.  

On the beverage side, she held roles at Diageo, Suntory and William Grant & Sons, working on brands like Smirnoff, V Energy, Hendrick’s Gin, Sailor Jerry Rum and Glenfiddich Whisky. In automotive, she worked with the Volkswagen Group on its CUPRA brand. 

Her titles ranged from Commercial Marketing Manager in the Travel Retail and Duty-Free space through to Brand Manager and Marketing Manager. 

Ask her to pick the highlights, and three projects stand out. 

“Launching the CUPRA Terramar was a milestone; bringing a new vehicle to market is a complex, high-stakes project and seeing it come to life was genuinely thrilling,” she said. 

The other two? Reinventing iconic spirits and introducing heritage to a new market. 

“Developing new RTD [ready to drink] formats for Smirnoff and Sailor Jerry gave me deep experience in consumer-led innovation.  

“And introducing a 50-year-old Scottish whisky into the Australian market was one of those rare challenges where you are working with a product of extraordinary heritage and trying to find its place in a completely new context. I loved every bit of it.” 

Why she loves teaching entrepreneurship

While marketing is where she spent most of her career, it is the entrepreneurship subject that has surprised her with how much she enjoys teaching it. 

“I love that it is not just about starting a business, it is really about how you think,” she said. 

“The mindset work, the problem-solving, the willingness to challenge assumptions, these are skills that serve students in every area of their lives, not just their careers.” 

Global Citizenship excites her just as much, because it asks students to think bigger. 

“It zooms out and asks students to think about the bigger picture: their place in the world, their responsibility to it, and what kind of leaders they want to be,” she said.  

Having worked across diverse cultures herself, she sees it as essential. 

And then there is Marketing, which she takes on next trimester. 

“It is where I spent most of my career, so bringing that real experience into the classroom feels like a real privilege.” 

Honest advice for students

Hannah does not sugar-coat what it takes to break into marketing, fashion or entrepreneurship. She has three pieces of advice for every student. 

First, build your personal brand and network early.  

“The people you know and the reputation you build early in your career will open more doors than your grades ever will.” 

Second, get real-world experience as soon as you can.  

“Do not wait until you feel ready or until the opportunity looks perfect. Intern, assist, volunteer. Even an unpaid experience teaches you things that a classroom simply cannot replicate.” 

Third, work for brands whose values you actually share. 

“Marketing is a craft, but it is also personal.  

“When you genuinely care about what you are selling and who you are selling it for, the work is better and the career is far more fulfilling. I have experienced the difference firsthand.” 

She is just as candid about the lessons she had to learn the hard way. 

“Do not wait until you feel ready. Just start. Confidence is not something you get before you begin; it is something you build by doing,” she said. 

She also wants students to know that setbacks are part of the process.  

“Failure is not the end of the process, it is part of it.  

“Some of the most valuable lessons I have ever had come from campaigns that did not land or strategies that missed the mark. What matters is what you learn and how quickly you adapt.” 

Connecting students to industry

For Hannah, teaching is only part of the job. She wants to open real doors for ICMS students. 

“I would love to do more than ‘just’ teach, I want to connect students to the industry in a real and meaningful way,” she said. 

That means live brand briefs, real projects, and getting students out into the market to solve actual problems.  

It also means helping them build a portfolio of genuine work and using her network to connect them with industry mentors, professional placements and events. 

But she also wants to talk about the things business school does not always cover. 

“I also would love to talk to my students about work-life balance, about mental resilience, about what a sustainable and fulfilling career actually looks like. That is not always part of a business school curriculum, but I think it should be.” 

That focus on industry connection fits ICMS well, where all students complete Work Integrated Learning (WIL) placements of up to 600 hours, backed by more than 1,000 industry partners.  

Staying ahead of the curve

Hannah is pragmatic about how fast her field is shifting, and she wants students ready for it. AI, she says, is already reshaping marketing. 

“Students who learn to work with AI tools now will have a significant advantage. Those who ignore it will be playing catch-up,” she said. 

Authenticity is the next big shift.  

“Consumers, especially younger ones, are increasingly skeptical of brands that feel manufactured or hollow. The brands that will win are the ones with a real point of view and the courage to live by it.” 

She points to agility and sustainability as the other defining skills of the next generation. 

“Sustainability is no longer optional. It is becoming a fundamental expectation from consumers, regulators, and investors alike,” she said.  

“Students who understand how to build sustainable thinking into brand and business strategy will be extraordinarily valuable in the years ahead.” 

Why ICMS?

So what convinced her that ICMS was the right fit? The community, for one. 

“ICMS has a great quality of lecturers; it is small enough to feel personal but connected enough to feel relevant. Students here are not just numbers in a lecture theatre,” she said. 

She also values the international mix of students, which she believes makes classroom conversations richer, something she sees as vital in marketing, fashion and entrepreneurship. 

“That global perspective is not a bonus, it is essential,” she said. “Add to that a faculty that brings real industry experience and, of course, the beautiful Northern Beaches Campus overlooking Manly.”