Magnum & Co restructures its leadership team, adding Carl Ratcliff as managing partner
Communications agency Magnum & Co has restructured its leadership team.
The new structure consists of three managing partners, with the elevation of Carl Moggridge from managing director and the addition of DDB Sydney’s former chief strategy officer, Carl Ratcliff. Co-owner Katie Barclay has maintained her role of managing partner.
Agency founder and co-owner, Michelle Hampton, has stepped into the role of chairperson.
Hampton told Mumbrella it was the right time for her to move into a new role.
“I started the business 15 years ago, and I’ve got a new baby at home and it felt like the right time for me to move into that chairperson role.
“So then we wanted to have a look at how we could structure or restructure the leadership team, to make it really dynamic and to have really three people within the business to become managing partners to offer something a little bit different between the three of them.”
Chairperson Michelle Hampton, Carl Ratcliff, Katie Barclay and Carl Moggridge
For Ratcliff, the move reflects a shift from working in large agencies under holding groups, to a mid-sized independent. It also marks his return to public relations. Previously, Ratcliff has been the CEO of public relations agencies One Green Bean and Naked Communications, and the managing director of BWM Dentsu.
In a statement he said: “Michelle, Katie and Carl are smart, good people, capable of packing an original punch across brand communications. Their focus and chutzpah is spot on. And is precisely what marketing needs, as we barrel through the first part of this new decade.”
“I continue to believe that a holistic approach to media lies at the heart of the very best communication ideas. The future of commercial creativity, in my opinion, sits with genuinely integrated, bold, independent agencies like Magnum & Co.”
Earlier this year, after leaving DDB Sydney, Ratcliff opened creative consultancy This Is The Day. Ratcliff told Mumbrella that he would continue his work on the consultancy but his core focus would be Magnum & Co.
Hampton said: “We’ve had our eye on [Ratcliff] for a long time. Obviously, he’s one of the industry’s best in my opinion. And we were very, very lucky to have the opportunity to have a discussion with him a couple of months ago, and that discussion went really well.
“We’re not just interested in his skill set, but obviously joining an indie agency like ours, we needed to have the right fit.”
Ratcliff told Mumbrella: “For me, it feels like I have found genuine attitudes and personalities that I can connect with and work with.”
Moggridge said that the new structure will enable the three managing partners to dedicate their responsibilities to areas of the business they specialise in.
“I think what it does do, it flattens the structure, but it allows responsibilities to be distributed in ways that the three partners [are] dedicated to really specific parts of the business. So I think having that managing partner structure means that we can, yes, we have shared responsibilities, but we can focus on certain distinct parts of that business and really specialise in that,” he said.
The restructure of the leadership team will not affect the lower ranks of the business and no redundancies have been made.
Magnum & Co describes itself as a brand communications agency. It’s service offering includes influencer marketing, social media, creative services and public relations. In May, Magnum & Co introduced a social responsibility consulting arm into the business, called ‘Make Good Things Happen’.
Moggride said the addition of Ratcliff to the team will accelerate plans to add more services into the business.
“I think what Carl does, coming into the business, it does allow us to try and accelerate some of our growth ambitions. And that is very much around trying to broaden the definition of communications and actually try and position ourselves in a more of a brand space, not just kind of public relations communications.”
Moggridge continued the agency’s goal for the next six months was to become recognised as “one of Australia’s leading independent comms agencies.”
Barclay added: “We’re big enough to cope, but we’re small enough to care… We’re able to cope with bigger clients and handle all aspects of marketing from a full service point of view, but then also they can have that empathy and that human touch.”
This year, Magnum & Co has added Queensland Strawberries and L’Oréal to its client list that also includes Converse, Go Daddy, Stayz, Australian Blueberries and Mangos.
