Quitting global sport's inner sanctum to become good Kiwi dad 

Words Jill Nicholas

Pictures, video Stephen Parker

Ponder on this:

What possible link can there be between reciting Shakespeare in Rotorua and working in sync with the All Blacks throughout two World Cup campaigns and five Northern Hemisphere tours? 

And in one of those classic "wait there's more" moments, add to that heady mix playing host to top international sports stars at the 2012 London Olympics.

The solution to this brain teaser is John Paul College's head boy of 1995.

His name's Shaun Anastasi. He's a bloke of exuberant personality who's spent five years at the "pointy end" (his words) of sport internationally.  

At JPC, speech and drama were his specialist subjects. He was twice in the troupe that represented the school at the annual Sheila Wynn National Shakespeare Festival. 

He made his Shambles Theatre debut in The Tempest in 1995.

We'll toss in there that as a youngster Shaun was also a gun swimmer, representing the Arawa club at local, regional and national level. He has a swag of medals corroborating that this is so. 

He enjoyed rugby but didn't play it competitively.

Global marketing manager

Fast forward to his 30s. That's when Shaun became a global marketing manager for adidas, the international company which has been the leading apparel sponsor for a swathe of sporting codes.

Rugby's one of its biggies with the All Blacks its super stars.

Adidas has sponsored the men in black for 25 years.

Shaun confirms that makes it a key partner for all rugby in New Zealand from the grass roots up. 

"People often think they only sponsor the All Blacks but that's simply not so." 

World Cups, Olympics

Shaun Anastasi was at the All Blacks side for the 2011 and 2015 World Cup series. There were annual European tours in between.

He travelled with them, stayed in the same flash hotels that they did.  

He was in the stadium’s inner sponsorship circle, flying the adidas flag at the 2012 London Olympics.

The range of sports and players he championed embraced swimming, tennis and handball.

He also oversaw twenty or so competing countries with crack athletes sponsored exclusively by adidas.

These included Team GB, Ethiopia, Kenya and Japan. 

Mass media press conferences   

The London Olympic Stadium was where Shaun's Rotorua-learned public speaking skills came to the fore.

He frequently fronted press conferences two or three times a day for 200-plus media types from around the globe. 

Each was clamouring for a piece of the action with some of the world's most outstanding athletes.

It was a quid pro quo deal. They got to interview the super stars on the proviso adidas was given top billing.

Shaun's brief was to ensure that happened. 

"We were selling adidas as the premier sports brand in the world."

He was also creative director for a swag of photo shoots focused on previous Olympians who'd worn brand adidas.

 These had him rubbing shoulders with a line up of sporting celebrities that included Aussie super swimmer Ian Thorpe and football great David Beckham.

"Before the media events I'd be briefing the likes of tennis ace Caroline Wozniacki, Ethiopia’s double gold athlete Haile Gebrselassie and Dick Fosbury, creator of high jump's Fosbury Flop. 

"It was a dream come true."

He's also worked closely with Indian cricket great Sachin Tendulkar. 

A personally signed bat is a prize exhibit in his extensive collection of sporting memorabilia gleaned from his high flying adidas years.  

Raising sons on home turf

But nine years ago Shaun swapped the sporting A-lister lifestyle to fly under the radar back in his home town. It's where he and his wife Rose are raising their two sons.

His passion for sport continues to drive his working life.

These days he's Bay of Plenty Cricket's general manager.

It's a role that also embraces his internationally honed marketing expertise.

It was via Rose that Shaun made his way into adidas. It's right up there in the rankings of Germany's leading multinational companies.

Rose had begun working for adidas New Zealand several years before Shaun's hiring. 

We'll dig into the hows, whys and wherefores of that as the trajectory of her husband's life story unfolds.

So let us begin. 

Growing up locally

His Rotorua connection started when he was nine. His firefighter dad, Richard Anastasi, had been transferred from Wellington. He held the rank of senior station officer.

It's stating the obvious that it's from him that Shaun inherited his very non-Kiwi surname.

It's Greek, not Russian as many, In Profile included, mistakenly believed.

 Anastasi senior arrived in New Zealand from Malta as a 15-year-old.

Clearly English wasn't his first language but it was Shaun’s.

However the speed with which he spoke it led his parents to enrol him in JPC's speech and drama department.

Their hope was that it would slow down his rapid-fire delivery. It did - marginally -  and it also introduced him to The Bard. 

Debating was another interest that gave great grounding for life in the public eye.

It was a life he hadn't yet begun to dream of. 

Shaun was one of those kids who got to Year 13 without a clue about where his future lay.

University, early jobs

His speech and drama teacher, Pam Moore, suggested he enrol in Auckland University of Technology's Bachelor of Communication Studies. It offered a major in public relations and marketing.

Shaun was one of the100 chosen for the course out of the 1000-plus who applied.

His first job after graduating was as a junior marketing assistant with the Godfrey Hirst carpet and flooring company.

From there it was on to the Manukau City Council's economic development department.

In a taste of things to come he was tasked with running black tie events.

He confesses to it being "pretty scary".

"I was only 23 and rubbing shoulders with some real hard hitters from business like Dick Hubbard and the Mad Butcher.

"[Sir] Barry Curtis was the mayor. I was in awe of him. He had a real aura around him."

Not wanting to be typecast as only being capable of working for not-for-profit organisations he moved to a chain of dental practices.

Pink wig, red lippy

By then he'd met Rose.

It was at his flatmate's birthday party. But this wasn’t any bog- standard party.

"My flatmate was gay. There were 30 drag queens and only five heteros there. That included Rose and me. 

"I was wearing a pink wig and red lippy when we met."

Nevertheless they bonded.  Rose had studied at Auckland University and was in human resources.

They'd been an item for a while when she was offered a job in Shanghai.

Shaun went too, scoring work liaising with Chinese staff at an international market research firm. 

They spoke the local dialect based on Mandarin. Shaun didn't.

"I learnt enough to get the gist of a conversation, order a meal, get a taxi, that was it."

During and following the 18 months they spent in China, Rose and Shaun backpacked in its rugged western hinterland, through Tibet, Nepal, India and Thailand. 

Global Financial Crisis

Back in Auckland he worked for a financial advisory and  investment firm.

"Seeing the boom then the bust of the Global Financial Crisis.

"I learnt a lot about how to manage crises."

Next move was to IAG, the company that sponsored 7s rugby through its NZI brand.

"That was how I got my first taste of working in sports."

Meanwhile Rose had joined adidas NZ.

"I was incredibly proud she had a job with adidas but jealous too. She was not into sports nearly as much as me."

When Rose returned to Shanghai for a conference Shaun tagged along.

"She was shoulder-tapped there to move to adidas's head office in Germany.

"I wasn't prepared to let her go without me.

"I asked Rose's future boss if he could introduce me to a few people I could talk to about work opportunities.

"I guess I just networked my way into a job.

"It was amazing to be working with 4000 people at adidas HQ who loved sport and were as passionate about it as I was."

Adidas had sponsored the All Blacks since 1999.

"My boss couldn't believe he had a Kiwi on board the marketing team. 

"Only six at adidas HQ were New Zealanders. Two of those were us. 

Iconic AB' era

"My role was to leverage off brand All Blacks and make sure there was a good return on adidas' investment.

"This was by selling replica boots and jerseys to the public and marketing the team throughout their playing campaigns.  

"I did that for the World Cups played in New Zealand and England and the team's annual end of year tours of Europe.

"It was the great era of iconic All Black teams.

"We are probably never going to see players like that again.''

Was the Kiwi kid who grew up in awe of the ABs a mite star struck?

"Maybe meeting Richie [McCaw] for the first time but that only lasted briefly.

"For the most part I was older than the oldest All Black I was working with.

"That helped and I'd been around people with aura before.

"You get more out of them if you treat them with respect, not pander to them.

"Rugby players don’t get pandered to like footballers do."

Shaun confesses he was more mesmerised at the Olympics being in close quarters with Ian Thorpe. 

 "Perhaps the difference was I hadn’t played much rugby but I'd done quite a bit of competitive swimming and really held him in high esteem.

"But you have to remind yourself you are there in a professional capacity and have to keep your mind on the job."

As well as his on-the-road time with the ABs there were annual  trips back to New Zealand to oversee shoots for international advertising campaigns.

"One of the coolest things I did with the All Blacks was a full length doco on the history of the jersey. It was shot over a three year period."  

The longer he spent with the All Blacks the more he came to be accepted into their inner sanctum.

"I felt I could relax there and be part of the group."

Groupie autograph seeker

Came the day he was mistaken for the real deal.

"I'd been doing a few laps in the indoor pool at the team's hotel in Rome.

"I'd come out with a towel around my waist when this All Blacks groupie asked me for an autograph. I gave it to him. 
"He's probably still trying to figure out who the hell I was."

For Shaun that was one of touring with the team's laugh-out-loud moments. 

There were hairy ones too.

One of the most nerve-searing was when a colour clash meant plans for the All Blacks to play in their white kit against Scotland in Edinburgh were suddenly blown out of the park. 

"Three days out Scotland reneged and insisted the All Blacks play in black. 

The logicistics of sourcing enough black jersey in a rush piled the pressure on Shaun and the sponsorship team.

"Not only that. We'd built an entire global marketing campaign around the All Blacks being in white for the match. 

"Somehow we managed it and created a whole new campaign on the fly.

"Yes, that was extremely stressful."

The launching of the 2015 World Cup jersey in London rates as one of his proudest achievements.

"My job was to create as much hype as possible around that jersey.   

They [the All Blacks] went on to win wearing it."

Job non-stop

Sport may be seasonal but Shaun's job was non stop year-round.

As well as the All Blacks, he worked closely with top French and Italian national teams and various club teams around the world.  

"When not on the road I'd be back behind a desk in Nuremberg  plotting the next campaigns.

But all good things come to an end.

It took the birth of the first son to turn the Anastasis' thoughts homeward.

"He was a challenging baby, one of those who hardly slept. 

"I wasn't around much to help, we didn't have family support close by.

"I realised I was having the time of my life while poor Rose was barely existing. I felt extremely selfish.

"If I stayed I'd have gone to the Rio Olympics, been on a Lions tour to New Zealand. That meant being away from home months at a time.

"I looked at it and thought 'No, I'd rather be a good dad."

Ngai Tahu, marketing

Shaun came home to a job with Ngai Tahu Tourism, based in Rotorua.

"I fell on my feet with a job assured and in my home town.

"But I came back to New Zealand exhausted. I didn't do that job justice. I lasted 18 months."

Taking time out ,Shaun re-evaluated his future, deciding to become "a hired gun".

He defines this as freelancing.

"I ran a fairly large marketing consultancy for four or five years.

He also worked part time as Rotorua cricket's co-ordinator.

The time felt right to become involved in governance. He joined the Arts Village board.

"I can't draw a bloody picture to save myself but they were looking for directors to bring a more commercial focus to the operation."

He was on Bay of Plenty Cricket's board when his present job come up. Shaun resigned to take it.

Living life without regrets 

Isn't this all rather small fry after being at sport's international pinnacle?

"I won't lie that there aren't times I miss it but I want to live a life of no regrets.

"I've been brave enough to take opportunities when they are presented to me, to take the next step into the unknown.

"China and Germany were leaps of faith. They took me out of my comfort zone. 

"I still ask myself 'did I deserve these things?'

"I suppose I did because I had the guts to give it a go.

He views himself as "a creature of contradictions".

"That’s why I acknowledge acting Shakespeare and debating.

"They gave me a love of messing around with words.

"That's the reason I went down the path I enjoy - marketing and PR."