To celebrate the 30th year of the AdNews Agency of the Year Awards we went on a nostalgia trip through the archives. For a potted history of the ast 30 years check out '30 years of great advertising - a step back in time'.
We also asked icons from the last 30 years to reflect on what's changed and what's stayed the same. Rob Morgan, Sean Cummins, Warren Brown, Anne Parsons, John Sintras and The Monkeys share some thoughts.
The innaugural winner - Weekes Morris & Osborn
When you start an agency with no clients and capital of just $36,000, you’re taking a risk. Add the fact that none of the partners had even worked together, it’s a risk few would take. But David Weekes, David Morris and Richard Osborn shook hands and did just that in 1980. They were each 33 years old.
“We moved very fast, and were fortunate enough for people to believe in what we promised: 'Be Brave'. We quickly won Australian Consolidated Press assignments including the Bulletin and Australian Business magazine.
Our big breakthrough was beating twelve agencies in a pitch for Peugeot. Along the way we won assignments from clients including Nikon, Dunlop Slazenger and the State Bank. We were provocative and forthright. And were fearless in taking on the fat, established agencies. We were helped by having Dennis Merchant as our media partner, and we were courted by several multi-national network agencies.
Winning the inaugural AdNews Agency of the Year in 1987 gave us enormous credibility in the market and imbued us with self-confidence. And we went on to win it again in 1992. We helped show the way for ambitious and talented creatives and suits to chance their hand at their own agency. We were one of a handful of start-ups in the 1980s which emboldened highly rated art directors and copywriters and suits from established agencies. These new names included Jack Vaughan’s
Principals, John Bevins, PKB, Foster Nunn Loveday, Gough Waterhouse, Magnus Nankervis and Curl. In 1989, WMO sold to Masius (DMB&B) which was later itself taken over by Publicis and absorbed the local office and key staff. This brought the new agency a swag of international aligned clients including P&G, Mars and Bristol-Myer. It also reenergised the founding partners to expand by pitching larger local brands. By 1993 the agency had added Qantas, Westpac, Land Rover Australia and Berlei to its client lists, grown in size to 80+ staff and almost $100 million in billings.
“We were provocative and forthright. And were fearless in taking on the fat, established agencies. Winning the inaugural AdNews Agency of the Year in 1987 gave us enormous credibility in the market and imbued us with self-confidence.”
Since retiring from advertising I've been writing a novel and spending more time on the family’s farm at Robertson. In 2016 I established Ad Whisperers, a group of senior and very experienced agency creatives to help agencies to try and reclaim their creative integrity.”
David Morris, co-founder of WMO, the first AdNews Agency of the Year in 1986
It's like winning the Grand Final - Clemenger chairman Rob Morgan
In the late 1980’s there was a revolution in our industry. Mojo was hot – doing Aussie jingles for everything - challenged by
The Campaign Palace doing UK-style work: clever and beautifully produced. They seemed to win all the Agency of the Year awards. By the 90s Clemenger was on the march and we had a golden era starting in 1994 with our first AdNews Agency of the Year.
I remember it was like winning the Grand Final, but there wasn't a big awards night – we just got a phone call! We stopped work and went to lunch (for a couple of days). I’m proud to say we’ve won the AdNews Agency of the Year Award a number
of times since - you realise how important it is when you don’t win it!
A lot has changed, but what has stayed the same is the importance of great ideas. That is what we do better than anybody. The other thing that will never change is that this business is the most fun. Even though it’s tough and unfair, we wouldn’t have it any other way! If you are any good at it, it’s the best business to be in.
Peter Clemenger always said ‘advertising is a marathon, not a sprint. Unfortunately many agencies are great sprinters. There are always new agencies starting and old ones being re-born. That’s what makes our industry great.
“I remember it was like winning the Grand Final, but there wasn’t a big awards night – we just got a phone call! We stopped work and went to lunch for a couple of days.”
I have always admired leaders who stood up for the industry and who stood tall. Peter Clemenger - tough, fair, generous and smart. Singo, Alex Hamill, Harold, Harve, Mattingly, Delbridge were giants of the industry. Incredibly tough to beat, but really good at advertising and were all admired by their clients. These days we’ve got a new generation of star leaders – Nick Garrett, Chris Howatson, Emily Perrett, Laura Aldington, Mark Green, Paul Bradbury, Melinda Geertz and Mike Rebelo are pretty darn good too!
I won’t be around in 30 years, but whoever is, working in this business is lucky. No matter what new ways of communicating have been invented, our industry will still be there – because great work, works!
Rob Morgan, Clemenger BBDO chairman
There have always been stand-out people - Anne Parsons
The funny thing is, for better or worse, I do not think of awards as an element of what we did or thought about at the start of my media career. I gradually came to learn of awards for creative work and understood that from the perspective that it's the closest thing to art. But the motivations of people were not about awards. It was not a currency that was used but the focus was on winning - always about winning. Pitches were the thrill of the chase. And all attention and energy was spent making something pitch perfect and ready for show.
It translated into brilliant work. The fantastic work done for Yellow Pages and the GoGo Mobile, the brilliant work done for Victoria Bitter and keeping that brand as a hero; the emotionally charged work for NAB putting a human face to banks.
There was great work and increasingly great thinking going behind media planning. Some of the pseudo science applied to the work for Mars was well before it's time. There was great work coming from every agency. So all were competitors but all very driven and the result was a high standard of quality and brinkmanship.
It's an industry where happily there have always been stand-out people. Always, then and now. But certainly there is a cavalcade of great names, people who were influential whether you worked with them or not. Let me start with Harold Mitchell, simply because he lead a charge that still continues and gave lots of people great opportunities. I was not one of them, but he certainly gave me lots of stick, witty banter and debate, lots of laughs... and a few clients! David Mattingly, David Nettlefold, Chris Dewey, Alex Hamill, Peter Gallucci, Peter Harvie, Maureen Plavsic, John McAlpine, Gary Fenton – the list of great Australian advertisers over the past 30 years goes on and on.
All of these people continued to do interesting things. Whilst media and marketing were their passions, passionate people always have multiple strings and they use them. If you want the best dinner party conversation - invite any of these people and you would have one of your most entertaining and provocative dinners.
Anne Parsons, CEO of Cherry London
The Campaign Palace Loonies - Warren Brown
Thirty years ago the custodians of creativity in Australia were few and far between, with The Campaign Palace leading the
charge. Most other agencies thought of them as loonies. A lot has changed since then, although The Palace may have gone, creativity has flourished in our industry and is now recognised as not something of an indulgence, but an essential ingredient of a brand's effectiveness and success. Whilst in the past, creativity was only valued by the few, it is now sought after by the many. You could say the loonies have finally taken over the asylum.
Warren Brown, inducted into AdNews Hall of Fame 2017, founder of BMF
If only we'd known! - John Sintras
I’ve been part of this industry for over 30 years and witnessed the total transformation of marketing communications and the role of media. Thirty years ago, I was a Media Group Head at Leo Burnett. Back then, we were using calculators and typewriters, and the mobile phone was nowhere to be seen. Everything was manual and slow, but at least you got to switch off during lunch and after work. We managed to survive without Powerpoint, and it took days for ‘slides’ to be made for client presentations. Media was crosses in boxes, and we were always the last ten minutes of a client presentation. It was a
full-service environment and it’s interesting to see the industry trying to re-integrate.
The most astonishing change was the internet. I vividly remember presentations in the 90s educating clients about the impact the internet would have. At that time, few clients believed the impact would be significant - so many cynics. Our projections about its imapct were ridiculously low. If only we’d known!
As for media, how incredible to have seen media move from the back of the presentation to the front, and to see modern media agencies increase scope and specialisation to become a dynamic, creative and performance driven force in the industry. Comms planning today is completely unrecognisable compared to when I started – but in a good way. The relentless pace of change will ensure our industry continues to be challenging and energising for the next 30 years.
John Sintras, IPG Mediabrands President of Global Business Development and Product Innovation
Drunk monkeys - The Monkeys
We still remember fondly our first win, ten years ago as Emerging Agency of The Year in 2007, after the three of us came together in 2006, and completed our first full year in business. We have been to every AdNews event ever since and it is always great to see the best work and the best people getting up year after year. We always want to be there, competing with the best and mumbling a few thank yous on stage.
When we first started the indies were really shaking things up with Glue Society, BMF and Host creating excellent work. The multinationals have also been ever present with Clemenger Melbourne undoubtedly the yardstick. And clients have shone brightly at various stages none more so than MLA, CUB and Metro Trains in Melbourne.
Campaign highlights for us over the years have been the Carlton Draught Big Ad, Dumb Ways to Die and the Boags Pure Waters work. They were all 'I wish I'd done that' moments for us. Hopefully we've contributed a few of those for people as well! So here's to the next 30! Congratulations AdNews on 30 years of recognising the best in the industry.
ECD Scott Nowell, CCO Justin Drape and CEO Mark Green
Where have all the characters gone? Sean Cummins
The AdNews awards are the awards we always want to do well in. And in recent years we have. I think because as a publication and as a brand AdNews is in rarefied air as the leading journal for the industry. Having a mention in the
magazine was always a thrill despite the topic in question. There has been a tradition of great editors that runs through to today and the Yaffa family, with James at the helm, continues a great lineage
Winning AdNews Agency of the Year several times has been great and the personal honour of Hall of Fame is amazing. I haven't visited the hall yet but I hope that stupid PR shot of me looking smug and tilting my head isnt the one they used. I don't know whether it is just me, but the great characters of the industry seem to have gone. Or maybe they are there, but because the industry is dominated by multinationals, no one can truly stand out, which is a shame. You used to know the names of the people doing great things, now it's just the agency brands.
The industry has always been competitive and spirited but you used to know who your critics were and you could square off with them. They had to identify themselves or shut the hell up. Now it's anonymous and cowardly. My icons of the last 30 years are my mentors.; Jim Kiernan, Cesare Leonardi, Rod Curtis, Bruce Stainsby and Mike Dornau. All aspects of my advertising make up were formed by these guys.
Thirty years ago I was entering my third year in the business. I was working at Leonardi and Curtis and had won the TV commercial of the year for RSPCA "Trap". It was pretty heady stuff for a 24 year old and I grew up pretty quick after that. In the next 30 years I certainly plan to keep working. Retirement means losing relevance. And who wants that?
Sean Cummins, Founder of Cummins&Partners, Advertising Hall of Fame 2016
Have something to say on this? Share your views in the comments section below. Or if you have a news story or tip-off, drop us a line at adnews@yaffa.com.au
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