Fresh from bolstering its senior management team, One Green Bean still refutes claims it's going to become a full-service creative shop, saying the agency is reflecting where it plays in the market today.
One Green Bean founder and executive creative director Kat Thomas told AdNews that the agency has never been just a PR agency, and that creating the role of CEO, as well as hiring a new managing partner, is simply a reflection of the agency's needs.
“Today our remit far outstrips what’s typically expected from a player in the PR category traditionally,” Thomas said.
“Digital and social, along with content production and strategy, is now a fundamental area of expertise and over 50% of our business.”
The agency announced yesterday that Naked Australia CEO Carl Ratcliff would be joining the agency as its CEO, and that Claire Salvetti, who is currently Mango Sydney’s managing director, would take up the role of managing partner.
Thomas explained that the agency never set out to make two hires, but to gain the best expertise in the market.
“Our wishlist was long and we realised we had a better chance of achieving everything we wanted with two hires, rather than one,” she said.
“In our CEO, we wanted someone with experience running sizeable businesses, given our growth. We also wanted someone from a broader agency background, to give our clients a more rounded perspective on the power and potential of owned and earned channels in the mix today. Carl absolutely delivers on these, with the added bonus of being a planning heavyweight.
“In our managing partner, we wanted someone grounded in the PR world, but with ambition to push beyond the silos and boundaries the sector sometimes comes up against.”
Thomas told AdNews that One Green Bean is a creative agency with a starting point of an idea that will get people talking, one which is not just reliant on paid media to get air time.
“This is something that some ad agencies still struggle with, overcoming the compulsion to make an epic TV commercial or cinema ad, the success of which comes down purely to the size of the media spend. Not a good ROI in this day and age. Why not make an ad that people will talk about?” she said.
“Sometimes we’re part of a collaborative cross-agency team, in other instances we’re the lead creative agency driving the direction of creative for above-the-line campaigns. The role we play and the value we add to our clients’ businesses is every bit as significant as an ad agency.”
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