After a combined 26 years at 303 MullenLowe Perth – eight of them working alongside each other - ECD Richard Berney and head of planning John Linton are departing to form their own agency.
Berney joined in 2005 as an art director, taking over as ECD in August 2015. Linton came onboard as a senior strategic planner at the start of 2015, being named as head of planning in June 2019.
AdNews spoke to Berney and Linton about what prompted them to start their own agency, the interplay between strategy and creative and some of the highlights of their time at 303 MullenLowe Perth.
Berney said that the long-time friends and colleagues have always fostered the desire to pursue their own venture, with the creation of an agency seeming like a natural next step.
“I personally grew up in that kind of a household, so I think that sort of that spirit is baked in. For me, I've always wanted to do it, and it's been a very difficult thing to begin because 303 has always had a beautiful, independent spirit that's run through it.
“I've been happy here for a very long time, so it hasn’t been easy to leave. But it's just something that I think both of us have always had one eye on, which I think is quite common for agency folk with a vision.
Linton: “It goes without saying it wasn't easy to leave, but we wanted to make sure we were leaving at the right time for us and for the agency. It does feel like 303 is in a really solid place and it's as exciting for us and what we can do as it is for the agency itself, and what the next chapter of leadership looks like following us.”
Linton said that creatives, strategic thinkers and the vast majority of people in the industry are intuitively drawn to thinking creatively.
“A lot of the time, you're looking for something that's going to push you forward, a new challenge, a new opportunity - each one of those opportunities is a chance for us to grow and try something new at the same time.”
Berney: “Independence is a really important part of the creative spirit - being able react to wherever the wind blows or wherever your strategy or your ideas take you - and I think that goes part and parcel with independent thinking, ownership and possibility.
“303 has been amazing for decades and really has fed our energy and our ambitions. Nobody’s ever said ‘pull your neck in’, it's always just ‘go for it’. We've learned a lot here. It's been an amazing ride, it's given plenty to us and it's been such a gift for me personally, and John would agree to that.”
Berney said that the pair aren’t creating their own agency just to satisfy an urge – they see a need, beyond what is out there currently, for an agency to push the envelope.
“There is a wash of conservatism that runs through this market, and actually all markets around the world, and it seems that the safety lock is on in a lot of markets. It's so satisfying when you work with people who have the confidence to cause some trouble and to disrupt and really have some fun and some adventures with their projects. And that is what we love.
“That is actually what's getting great results for our clients and that's where we just want to be from here on in; I think there's a real appetite for it. In my experience, when we're having fun with clients, the market has fun, responds and then you get big change and big results. We're ready for an adventure and I think marketers are too.”
Linton: “Strategically, there's so much research out there talking about the need for creativity in recessions, and the importance of creativity and brand building and growth. I do think we've gone into our shells a little bit and because of that, we're sort of not doing our clients the greatest service.
“We've been doing that kind of work for 303 for a long time, and then being able to start a business together that leans even more into that and creates a culture and organisational structure that allows us to be free, allows us to put the ideas in front of clients that maybe are a little bit riskier, is really exciting.”
While coy on what the agency will actually do – more details will be forthcoming in March - Linton emphasised that creativity will be at the heart of their new endeavour.
“It's safe to say that we're not leaving the industry, we're going to be really active parts of it. We really want to be the creative force that WA and Australia needs right now and to join the rising tide of creativity that we see coming out of WA.”
Linton said that the respective specialties of creativity and strategy that they both bring to the table meant it made more sense to go into partnership as opposed to striking out on their own.
“Strategy is only as good as the creative that it can help to inform and Rich has always been a really strategically-minded creative. You see a lot of creative hotshots go out on their own and a lot of the time they are missing that strategic element. It makes sense, just rationally, the combination of those two things, because they're essential elements.
“You can be bold and riskier when you have a really strong strategic foundation, but then I think just emotionally or less rationally, Richard and I have sat next to each other five years and you don't find your work soulmate that easily in our industry. We have a great vibe together, so if I'm going to be sitting in an office with one person for hours on it, I couldn't think of anyone better.”
Berney: “We're great friends and we've got a great history together. I think all the greatest ideas that I've ever seen in marketing or otherwise are strategic ideas, and they're just harnessed and expressed creatively.
“I would hope we're both great strategists and both great creative thinkers; it's our passion and our love. I cannot see how anybody can do one without the other. I think the best creatives I've ever met are awesome strategists and vice versa. We just enjoy working together and causing trouble.”
While difficult for them to narrow down their highlights over such a long tenure at 303 MullenLowe, the pair called out impactful and award-winning campaigns as some of their proudest work at the company.
Berney: “Enjoy The Ride won a grand Effie and that was the only one that WA has managed. It caused quite a significant shift in road safety culture in Western Australia and made waves around the world, so that was certainly a highlight.
Linton: “We also collected some Effies this year which I thought was really terrific for our Alcohol. Think Again campaign, which, for communication around alcohol and pregnancy, leaned into a much more impactful territory that was still nuanced enough to not burden prospective mothers with guilt or shame or anything like that.
"The fact that that was recognised for its effectiveness, and not just its creative force, that would probably be the highlight for me.”
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