Peter Hutchings, a media buyer across Coudrey Daley, Y&R, Marketforce, has died. He was 86.
He started a career in advertising in the late 1950s as a media buyer at Hoyts.
By 1961 he was at Coudrey Daley Advertising Agency as a media buyer, then was promoted to media director and general manager.
Clients included Castrol “Oils ain’t Oils”, Hungry Jacks, Colgate Palmolive and Moove Milk.
Coudrey’s was later acquired by Young & Rubicam.
In 1981, seeing a need for more formal education in advertising (at that time there were no courses at TAFE or university) he launched The Media School as a 12 week Monday night diploma for aspiring media buyers, held at the Institute of Management North Sydney.
He would invite key industry players to present for half of the evening and he would deliver the rest.
This ran for more than 15 years and became a recognised qualification to help those starting out find a job in media. Channel Nine would always send a group of students for each season of The Media School.
In 1987, Peter decided to take a break from agency work, leaving Y&R to set up a consultancy, working with a colleague as a freelancer.
However, in 1988 he was headhunted for a role as media director and general manager for the Perth based agency Marketforce that was setting up shop in Sydney.
Peter was in charge of a major office move and, ahead of his time, chose an office building that was designated non-smoking which in those days was rare and unpopular with some of the staff but probably saved many from smoke related illnesses.
The new premises also had an enormous espresso machine that could make cappuccinos, considered a rare luxury in 1989.
Peter stayed at Marketforce until his retirement in 1996.
In his spare time Peter was an avid golfer which was also good for the agency golfing days with clients and a member of the Wentworth Falls Country Club.
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