The Promo Playbook by Cubic Promote
Welcome to The Promo Playbook, your backstage pass to the world of promotional marketing. Brought to you by Cubic Promote (https://www.cubicpromote.com.au/) Australia’s award-winning supplier of branded merchandise, this podcast is your go-to guide for making marketing and promo products work harder for your business. In each episode, we unpack real campaigns, talk to industry insiders, and share practical strategies to help you boost brand visibility, engage customers, and stand out. From trade shows to onboarding kits, we cover it all — with no fluff, just real insights that convert.
The Promo Playbook by Cubic Promote
Babylon Security How to build Brand & Trust in a Murky Industry
Rick from Babylon Securities shares how he's transforming the physical security industry through professionalism, transparency and a community-focused approach. We explore how a medical science graduate created a thriving security business that competes with established players by setting higher standards.
• Babylon Securities differentiates itself through transparency and professionalism in an industry that has historically been "murky"
• The company's origin story began with Rick's frustration with his previous boss, despite having no security background
• Physical penetration testing reveals alarming vulnerabilities in building security – "a high-vis vest and clipboard can get you anywhere"
• Real-world example of a thief stealing nearly 100 laptops from a law firm by appearing to be authorized staff
• Rick's entrepreneurial advice: "Let your work speak for itself" rather than relying solely on marketing
• Community engagement is central to their business philosophy, including sponsoring staff members' outside interests
• Their security philosophy centers on ensuring "your fun doesn't impede someone else's fun"
• Annual custom hoodie designs created by staff members serve dual purposes of team engagement and marketing
Thank you for listening to the Provo Playbook by Qubit Promote. Stay tuned for future episodes.
Find out more and visit our website: https://www.cubicpromote.com.au/
Welcome to the next episode of the Provo Playbook by Qubit Promote. Today on our podcast we have Rick from Babylon Securities. Rick, thank you for joining me.
Speaker 2:Thank you, charles. It's a pleasure to be here. Obviously, we're joining you from the Australian Gaming Exhibition, so I'm having a great time. How did you find the show? So far, so good?
Speaker 1:I've managed to get a lot of free stuff, grabbed, a lot of coffees grabbed a Free stuff, grabbed a lot of coffees, grabbed a lot of pens, so I had a great time Brilliant stuff. Rick, would you mind sharing with the audience out there a bit about your company, what you do at Babylon Securities and your role there?
Speaker 2:Well, I'm the director and co-founder of Babylon Security. We're a physical security provider. We provide the muscle and the good looks. We hope for a lot of pubs and clubs around the city. We also do things like events, whether they be sporting or music events and stuff like that. We do a bit of bodyguarding as well, so we have a lot of interesting-. We're going to need a bit of that. Of course, we're ready to go.
Speaker 1:That's why I'm here. Love it, love it. So what makes Babylon Securities different from the rest of the other security agencies out there?
Speaker 2:Babylon Security. Most of our other competitors is that for a long time, security as an industry has been very murky. It's been Imagine Sydney, australia, especially. We're pretty notorious for it. So we've had a lot of these long-established companies who have done security in a very, we'll say, old-fashioned way, and what we try and do is we want to try and make it completely different. So we want to try and be very transparent, very honest, and we try and do is we want to try and make it completely different.
Speaker 1:So we want to try and be very transparent, very honest, and we're trying to do things with a high level of professionalism and pride in what we do as well, so over the couple of years, can you share with us your early days, how you first started out and what are some of the changes that you've seen over the past couple of years?
Speaker 2:Well, it's funny the story of how we started out. It's not a very noble story. We started entirely because I really hated my boss and I was very upset that was kind of picking on me. So I thought me personally. I actually grew up, I studied medical science at university, so I didn't have a security background, but I just thought that as a security guard myself, I could understand and try and, you know, do things a bit differently, and so we were very lucky in the beginning. We managed to grow very exponentially and we've seen a lot of changes in the industry since then. We have, I think, had a bit of an impact on the industry because I think we bring a bit more sort of energy and, I guess, youth and more like modern approach to security as a whole.
Speaker 1:Well, from what I could gather from you is that you bring in a lot of professionalism. So, for the audience out there, babylon Securities is one of our clients and there is a difference between working with we have different clients and with Babylon Securities. I can attest that they're incredibly professional, very precise on what they want, what they need, and it's a breath of fresh air. So I do know for a fact that you bring professionalism to your day.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we do. Look. Professionalism for us is a huge part of what we do. Security a lot of the stuff we do is high risk. So if we don't got our I's and cross our T's, we're going to be in a lot of trouble, whether that be just in terms of the risks we might put ourselves up against or whether it just be compliance issues. So we try and mitigate all that by holding ourselves to an extremely high level of professional reflects in our work and then, down the line, it reflects into our clients and our ability to get more clients.
Speaker 1:It's interesting you should use the word risk, because I know nothing about the security industry before I met yourself. For the audience out there, what would be the top three riskiest things, whether it be a mental risk or physical risk or compliance risk? What are the top three risks in your industry? We've got plenty of risks, so I can sit here all day and talk to you about risks Coming from our industry.
Speaker 2:We do kind of understand risks that most businesses aren't aware of. Right Like, we do a service called a penetration test, so similar to say how a hacker would be able to break into someone's cybersecurity. We do it with physical and it's incredibly easy. You know, it's crazy to think what a hive is best and a clipboard it can get you wherever you want, really. Yeah, so it's a lot of times there's other risks involved in terms of, like, the actual sort of safety of your patrons and your venue and your colleagues and your workers. All that sort of stuff is stuff that we have to think about every day. So some might call us paranoid, but we like to say we like to just, you know, risk mitigate, you know.
Speaker 1:That brings me up a story that I remember from a couple of years ago. There was a person with a clipboard they may or may not have a high-vis vest, that I do not know but they went into the 10th floor of a commercial building and on this floor there was a law firm, and this law firm would have rows and rows of lawyers and rows and rows of laptops. And this person went there after hours and there was staff present at the time as well and they went table by table cleaning up laptops and no one batted an eye Exactly they thought they were staff.
Speaker 1:And at the end of the day. The next morning the staff came back in and they were all yelling out where's the laptop? Walk on, nick. I believe the damage was almost 100 laptops.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I 100% see that happening. Keep an eye on everything. Make sure everything runs smoothly.
Speaker 1:What's some of the advice that you would give to other entrepreneurs or business owners starting out today, especially considering the current climate, because I believe you started a touch after COVID, which is obviously a very challenging time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, look, we did start just after COVID. It was quite challenging in terms of picking up work. There was a lot of security companies that were all hungry, that throughout the part you know, all of covid had been, you know, struggling, and as soon as covid ended they all were kind of clawing at each other for work. But I guess it's it's it's more about you know, let your work speak for itself. It's really easy for you to market and sell and try and pitch your ideas to whoever you like, but unless your work isn't a positive reflection of who you are as a business, you're not going to grow. For our business ourselves, we think that because we had ourselves to such a high level so early, it meant that we managed to compete with the bigger companies very quickly. Focus on doing your work properly and the work will come.
Speaker 1:Amazing. I cannot help but agree with that. All right, let's talk about branded merchandise. A superhero power, and you were to give a security gadget branded with your logo to all your staff and crew, or not just for your staff, maybe for your entire industry.
Speaker 2:What would it be? Superhero comics. I love talking about superheroes and I always think my favorite superhero is. So if it was up to me personally, I think having a Batmobile would be fantastic.
Speaker 1:Are there any memorable or unexpected security situations that you've never found yourself on your team inside that you share with the audience?
Speaker 2:Well, there's millions that I can think of A lot of them 18 plus that you'd find unbelievable. But a lot of times it's the more positive stories that we think stick with us better, helping a lost child find their parents it's always stuff that's really positive for us. But for us the big thing is that I think my favorite part about our company is that we like to sort of give back to our community and, whether that be where we encourage our own staff and employees, if they have any sort of interests or they play a sport outside of the company, we'll sponsor them, we'll help them out. Best memories usually come from these things outside of security, where we join them in things they enjoy doing and we're part of that and helping support that.
Speaker 2:So it's really engaging in the community, and then that's where the few good stories come in, for personally and for your business, don't get me wrong we're all capitalists but at the end of the day we are lucky to have grown to the extent we've grown in such a short time and we think a lot of that is due to the community we've built around us. Not obliged, but we feel like it's a privilege for us that we're able now to support that community that helped us get to where we are.
Speaker 1:But there's a lot of synergies because you're in the business of keeping people safe. At the end of the day, you're paid for it by certain venues, but the venue wants people to be safe, exactly. You're exactly in the right business. Yeah, and helping the community is helping the business in a way.
Speaker 2:I mean we were saying before about how security has a bad name. Oh, I guess culture. We realize that a lot of times at the places we work at, people are there to have fun. We're just there to make sure everyone, so your fun, doesn't impede someone else's fun.
Speaker 1:Love that phrase. Your fun does not impede on someone else's. Yes, exactly, we have to quote that. So thank you for being a customer of cubic. Really, exactly, did you share with the audience out there the type of merch that you purchased, then share how you've utilized it with be a team or maybe a client, and what, what differences make for you?
Speaker 2:yeah, so actually, we do get a lot of merch in terms of uniforms. We do have a lot of staff and a lot of different venues have different uniforms, so we do pick up a lot of my merch there. We also like to get extra stuff here and there just to keep our guards happy in terms of like beanies, gloves, hoodies, all that sort of stuff, but the one we're really excited about is what I'm wearing today. Actually, it's our 2025 winter collection Babylon hoodie. Every year, we try and do a new hoodie design, so our guards help us design the hoodie. Oh nice, yeah. And then whichever design we all agree is the best one. That's the one for the year. So, and then whichever design we all agree is the best one, that's the one for the year. So, is this designed from you or from when they did it? No, yeah, it's one of the team they designed this. Wow, and that's this year's design. So we've given out already about 100. So we're going to need actually a new order. It's incredible.
Speaker 1:So you've engaged your team and part of your marketing campaign.
Speaker 2:Exactly so traditional security design, but it's a design that these boys like to wear everywhere. It's fun, it's exciting, it keeps them engaged, keeps them happy. It's also good marketing for us long-term.
Speaker 1:That's also amazing. Well, thank you for your time. Thanks, Charles. Thank you for those out there listening to the Promo Playbook by Ghibli Promote. Stay tuned for the next and future episodes.
