Australian advertising history is filled with pioneers who did things their own way and with a certain panache, and undoubtedly has produced more than its fair share of legends. Names like George Patterson, Sim Rubensohn, Jack Clemenger, Bill Farnsworth, Keith and Geoff Cousins, Alan Morris and Allan Johnston (better known as Mo and Jo), John Singleton and Dennis Merchant among others.
It's hard to know when Australia's first ad agency popped up but the extensive advertising magazine collection of John Bevins, creative director of John Bevins Advertising, which stretches back to 1921, features names such as J Victor Hall Advertising Consultant and Brenton's Advertising Service Agents. In 1928, at the time Newspaper News (now incorporated into AdNews) launched, Sim Rubensohn founded Hansen Rubensohn, which went on to become Hansen Rubensohn McCann Erickson in 1959 and, eventually, today's McCann Erickson after Rubensohn's death. The agency bred some of the best names in Australia's advertising history, including Terry Connaghan and Stan May (who established Leo Burnett in this country), David Sherbon and David Baker (who co-founded SSB), John Bevins and Bryce Courtenay among them. It wasn't until the 1930s the big names started rolling into town and the international agency migration began. First came J Walter Thompson in 1930, opening its Australian operation in Melbourne to service one of its clients, General Motors, which was expanding around the world. Also following clients, Lintas in 1931, McCann Erickson in 1959, USP Needham in 1961, Ogilvy & Mather in 1967 . . . the list continues. In 1946, Jack Clemenger opened the door to his own advertising agency, a radio production unit, in its first financial year billing 116,000 pounds. Today, Clemenger Communications is Australia's largest advertising and marketing communications group with billings of over $1 billion. Jack's sons, Peter and John, took charge of the agency after his death in 1964 with the intention of expanding. They sold a minority share to BBDO in 1972, later offering shares to staff at discounted prices. "The Clemenger family philosophy was in marked contrast to others," executive chairman Robert Morgan says now. "They could've sat on it [the agency] like the others did and wait for the big moment and sold it on . . . but their plan was to build the next generation of ownership." Peter Clemenger scoffs at the suggestion that he could be a pioneer. "I don't think of myself as a pioneer even though I've been in the business for 60 years," he says. "When I started as a kid I looked up to the real pioneers, people like Bill Farnsworth at Pattersons . . . and Harper Wilson at USP Bensons." A prominent agency name from the past that no longer exists is Monahan Dayman Adams (MDA). Formed in 1964 in Melbourne, the Adams in the name was creative director Phillip Adams. In the mid-'80s, MDA merged with Sydney creative hotshop Mojo. The merger was a disaster, famously dubbed by John Singleton as "the marriage of the Beatles to the post office". MDA was a publicly listed establishment company, worlds apart from the freewheeling Mo and Jo. True advertising pioneers, Mo and Jo are responsible for some of Australian advertising's most recognised catch cries - "C'mon Aussie", "I feel like a Tooheys" and Meadow Lea's "You oughta be congratulated" among them - and helped Qantas link itself to Peter Allen's "I still call Australia home". They famously conducted their research at the pub - well, they downed beers under the guise of keeping in touch with their target market. But Mo and Jo were not the first to make the most of jingles in Australian advertising - "Happy little vegemites", a tune widely recognised today, was written by the late Alan Weekes. Weekes, the father of Loud MD David Weekes, also wrote "Install a Rheem" and the "Snap, Crackle, Pop" jingle for Kellogg among many others. John Singleton, at a respectable number six on the Power 50 list, is also a pioneer. He was probably the first creative to start his own agency in 1968 - at age 25, with partner Duncan McAllan. His agency, SPASM, was taken over by DDB upon the multinational's move into Australia. In the media sector, Harold Mitchell may be at the helm of Australia's biggest media agency today, but it was Dennis Merchant who led the way in 1974 when he set up the country's first media independent. Merchant left his comfortable job at Young & Rubicam to set up his own business, Merchant & Petett, with no clients and only enough capital to last three months. "You have to take your hat off to Dennis Merchant," says Alan Robertson, who joined him in 1979. "He was the person who had the guts to kick off media independents in this country. It wasn't his original idea, but he was the first to execute it. Dennis had the vision, the rest jumped on the bandwagon, including Harold Mitchell."
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