The Commonwealth Bank’s new chief marketing officer Andy Lark issued a stark warning to media, creative and digital agencies to “harden up” and “just get on” with producing integrated solutions.
He also said agency structures were “ridiculous”, that agency staff turnover was “astounding” and that he enjoyed tension between his agency partners because it created competition.
Speaking at the ninemsn Digital Marketing Summit’s “Great Debate” session, Lark looks set to continue the bank’s long tradition of stirring trouble in the marketing services sector – his predecessor Mark Buckman ignored local suppliers and went to San Francisco to hire its current creative agency Goodby Silverstein – now in review under Lark’s tenure. And another former Combank marketing boss, Graham Ford, also ruffled the agency sector by publicly pouring scorn on its capabilities.
“Look media and creative agencies just need to harden up a bit, get around the table and work together,” Lark said. “People like us are sick and tired of the inability for an integrated solution at the table. We’re all reaching pretty aggressive procurement thresholds. There is huge transparency in the system now. That places huge responsibility on creative. You need great creative to win. There’s no point doing shit creative because no-one’s got the attention. So I’d say creative is paramount but right now along side it is being informed by great media strategy.”
Lark’s “abrasive” comments were the subject of much discussion after the debate with some claiming he had contradicted himself by criticising agencies for not collaborating effectively but then encouraging “biff” and tension between them.
The Commonwealth Bank is in the middle of selecting agencies to pitch for its creative account.
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