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Cheil installs Roy Faulkner as creative director, relaunches as ‘truly Aussie agency’

Roy Faulkner

Cheil Australia, the inhouse agency for Samsung, has hired its first creative director, and moved out of Samsung’s offices as it looks to more aggressively pursue other clients.

The agency, part of a global network set up to service the Korean conglomerate, has also voiced its ambitions to transform itself into a “truly Aussie agency”.

Ex-M&C Saatchi, Mojo and Leo Burnett creative Roy Faulkner has taken creative control of the agency of 45 staff, who have moved to an office 500 metres from the Samsung building to 8 Australia Avenue in Olympic Park, Western Sydney.

Global chief strategy officer Bruce Haines, the former boss of Leo Burnett London, and regional president SJ Kimm are in Sydney next week for a ‘grand office opening’ party.

The agency entered the market a few years ago, and has since been very quietly establishing itself as a merchandising hub for the Korean electronics giant.

Ex-McCann and P&G marketer Andrew Swinton took the job of MD of Cheil Australia a year ago.

Questions for Haines are expected to focus on his ambitions for winning Samsung business from other roster agencies, such as Leo Burnett, and how serious the agency is about winning non-Samsung clients.

A press release reads:

Cheil’s presence in Australia has, it’s fair to say, been solely linked to Samsung’s marketing department. But that has changed. Samsung has been and still remains a very important partner to Cheil, however the agency is now fully able to serve other clients.

Here in Australia, Cheil dramatically changed the local management team, bringing in fresh blood from outside the network, in the form of MD Andrew Swinton and Deputy MD Keunho Kim.

This radical self-appraisal has continued and in January 2012, Cheil Australia moved in to new premises, and clearly stating that it’s serious about its mission to become a respected player in the Australian advertising arena.

The agency was in the news in November when former boss Tony Simms waged a personal campaign against ageism in the industry. His sandwich board protest made the Sunrise breakfast show.

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