Sean Cummins: I tried to buy Naked
Sean Cummins
Sean Cummins has revealed he made a bid to buy Naked Communications from holding company Enero earlier this year, before newly minted strategic partner Adam Ferrier joined his agency.
At the Secrets of Agency Excellence (SAGE) conference today Cummins also decried the state of the ad industry at the moment, and claimed the one-stop-shop model of his CumminsRoss agency did not mean clients missed out on good media deals.
On the Naked deal Cummins said: “About eight months ago I rang Matthew Melhuish and he didn’t return my call for about two weeks and when he did I said ‘Hi, I’m Sean, I’d like to buy Naked’.
“There was a gasp, them he said you can’t afford it, Naked is too valuable to us. I got no response so I got Adam instead.”
On the state of the industry he quipped: “People quote David Ogilvy, they don’t quote David Droga. There’s a lot of words going around these days but there’s not a lot of wisdom. I’ve never seen the industry so vapid as we are these days.
“Let’s start embracing what’s happened in the past, we’re not doing much to advance the course of advertising now.”
But Ferrier countered saying he felt while people should look at things like collaboration from the past, the industry was in an “exciting time” with the emergence of new technologies.
Later he expanded on this, saying: “this is the beginning of the golden age of advertising. We have just come out of the Information Age where we did not solve any of the worlds problems, they’re still there.
“Now advertisers are being pulled into world issues and try to solve these through these techniques using things like advertising.”
When asked whether the 3-year-old independent would be big enough for another big personality like Ferrier he said: “I sold my last agency because I was lonely. Basically I was carrying everything, I owned 95 per cent of it.
“This time around it would not be around me. I would have my name in the agency , but I wanted friends and colleagues. They are partners in equity, they and Adam have bought into it.
“I get to collaborate with great people. David Ogilvy said hire people who are better than you, and he is far better than me.”
Ferrier added: “one of the things I’ve discovered is people with big personalities is they want other people with big personalities to have a point of view, so they can sort things out.”
Alex Hayes
Advertisers are being asked to solve the world’s problems!?
Excuse me while I roll on the floor laughing.
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Cool story, Hansel.
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The battle to stay relevant continues. Stop talking and let the work have a go. Oh, right.
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Advertising doesn’t solve the world’s problems.
They distract from it.
They hide it.
They make them worse.
And create new ones.
For those who subscribe to this fantasy, I suggest you get a mirror that works.
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“I got no response so I got Adam instead”. Love it!
Good to see big personalities teaming up.
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“There was a gasp, them he said you can’t afford it, Naked is too valuable to us. I got no response so I got Adam instead.”
And that my friends is why he’s so successful. Brilliant.
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Good article and honest opinions. I like it.
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“I get to collaborate with great people. David Ogilvy said hire people who are better than you, and he is far better than me.”
Beautiful.
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Is ‘My life As Sean’ going to be a regular weekly feature?
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I witnessed two of the most truthful people in advertising. And so willing to share.
It was breathtaking.
Anyone who wasnt there, missed something special
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Ferrier added: “one of the things I’ve discovered is people with big personalities is they want other people with big personalities to have a point of view, so they can sort things out.” Really Adam?
Sean and another Aussie in NYC with a big personality were a perfect match!
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Mathew should’ve sold it.
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8 months ago Adam was or about to be Naked (OZ), so potentially you got a very good deal.
Over the past few years the relevance of Advertising, and indeed Ogilvy’s practices have deminished dramatically….
40% of all content consumed in Australia (60% the USA) is now generated by consumers…we can’t hire that many people 🙁
Señor Drodga and his teams have created Tap, One (laptop), Million etc.
Indeed, no single person or agency can change the world or it’s problems….but I’m sure most of us would be proud to be a part of at least one of those…
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“Blue Steel, They’re the same face! Doesn’t anyone notice this?! I feel like I’m taking crazy pills.”
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8 months is a long time in advertising eh Matt. Good luck trying to sell Naked now.
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