STW and Simon White launch media and DM agency Bohemia
From left: Christofi, Dawson, Leaver
Simon White, the founder of STW Group media agency Ikon, has teamed up with ex-Ikon colleagues Brett Dawson and Chris Christofi and ex-Commbank online manager Peter Leaver to launch a media-meets-DM agency called Bohemia.
Backed by White and STW Group, the new agency “marries the art of communication strategy with the science of direct response” and begins life with three unnamed founding clients.
The news of Christofi and Dawson’s departure came in August, when Ikon MD Dan Johns was promoted to CEO. Another Ikon founder, Simon Brock, is also joining the new agency as CFO.
Dawson commented:
Bohemia is a new agency operating system that brings together a collective of experienced and networked individuals, unencumbered by traditional agency buying models, licensed to go deeper into a client’s business than ever before to put media and data led strategy at the centre.
Bohemians will design communication programs with the entire customer journey as their canvas and the growing sources of customer and behavioural data as their palette.
We will concentrate initially on a brands most influential assets such as its customers, its digital and physical footprint, its sponsorships, its social community, its brand imprint and its wealth of data, to create ‘Participation Programs’ not just media plans. Programs powered by a brands most committed customers. Programs that invite people to actively participate to ensure that every dollar spent delivers a measurable outcome.
The new agency has started work on new clients, with services including customer management, sales optimisation, brand strategy, media planning and buying, digital strategy and creative development.
White noted that he had backed the new venture because it gave him the opportunity to build a media and direct agency from scratch, “specifically for the new media world environment without any baggage”.
He added:
It’s a collective of experienced people that will strive to understand a brand and the commerce of its business, and this will be what feeds the overall communications strategy. They will venture further into the clients business to integrate more in-depth customer and sales data with emerging digital and traditional media data sources. Campaigns will require care and attention on a daily basis as they will be multiple content contact points that will require instantaneous response.
Good luck Brett. Class act who will do well!
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This is good news for Australian marketers. Great thinking around a complete view of the Customer, their experience, and advocacy, is what many brands could benefit from. Good luck guys.
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Congratulations Chris. Good luck
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The only thing that’s straight forward about these pompous and flowery statements, purporting to articulate the agency’s point of differentiation, is how nauseating they are. What’s wrong with the simple statement that the new venture is headed by a smart, experienced and intelligent group of individuals? That’s the only point of difference I can see here; everything else is just whitewash.
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Good Luck Peter & Co!
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In the light of some of the more detailed findings contained within IBM’s recently published CMO study, these “smart, experienced & intelligent” people could do very well indeed.
Actually, knowing all three individuals as well as I do, plus Brocky as CFO, and Whitey behind them, I know they’ll do exceptionally well.
Good luck fellas…. not that you’ll need much!
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Good luck guys. Sounds interesting.
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Huge congratulations! Such a super team of professionals, wonderful to see you doing great new things together. Best wishes.
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sounds exactly what the market needs, good luck guys,
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Having spoken a couple of times with Chris, Brett and Peter, I can see that Bohemia has something new and unique to offer the market. Their business model will bring a new approach to the industry and has the potential to seriously amplify value for forward-thinking clients. I expec they’ll enjoy great success.
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