One of Australia’s most high-profile creatives, Simon Collins, has returned from more than 10 years overseas to head up a new STW division bringing him back together with former colleague, CEO Michael Connaghan.
The new STW operation known as 1 Kent St will not run as a traditional agency, instead it will work as a collective of senior professionals who will respond to large-scale and unique briefs.
STW stresses that those involved in the new venture will not be “encumbered with the running of any one specific agency, so they can offer a rare flexibility”.
As of this week, Collins’ role will see him work alongside chief strategy officer Rose Herceg, group business director Rob Currie, and other key experts from within the group as and when required.
“The purpose of 1 Kent St is not to replicate anything our existing agencies currently provide, but to help clients who may need a complex, high-level response for a major project or to a business, government or social issue,” Connaghan says.
“As a result, they are able to quickly immerse themselves in developing a solution without disrupting agency workflow and other client demands."
Collins is also tasked with mentoring creatives across the group housed within the Kent Street operation, in addition to consulting, assisting with pitches and developing creative talent.
It is not the first time Collins has worked with Connaghan; the two first worked together at JWT Australia in 2004.
Collins is known for being particularly vocal on subjects that matter to him. In 2006, after leaving JWT, he publicly commented on the departure of two of its most senior members.
“Creative people who are unwilling to (or who have been briefed not to) compromise their brilliant ideas to accommodate the less glamorous marketing objectives of their clients are always going to find their style cramped in the kind of environment that JWT Australia will always be as long as it depends for a large proportion of its revenue on multinationals like Kellogg, Nestle and Ford,” he was reported to have said at the time.
Collins was creative director of the Campaign Palace in Sydney and Melbourne in the 1990s, before launching his own agency, Collins Thomas Cullen in 2000. The agency was sold to WPP in 2004, and Collins became executive creative director of JWT. He then moved to New York, where he worked at Y&R as global creative director of new business. He then became European creative director on the Colgate Palmolive business, dividing his time between the NY and Paris offices.
He also spent several years at EURO RCG (Havas) London, where he was global creative director on Reckitt Benckiser business, and a key creative in the successful 2010 Conservative general election campaign. During this time he also worked as global creative director on Australian Wool Innovation (The Woolmark), creating the worldwidel ‘No Finer Feeling’ campaign.
Collins says, “I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to work in New York, enjoyed my time in London, but always intended to come back to Australia if the right job was offered”.
Connaghan adds, “Simon is an outstanding creative who has an ability to get to the heart of a problem quickly, and develop unique and highly effective creative solutions”.
Email Nicola at nicolariches@yaffa.com.au.