Ad agency is in Melbourne; the creative director is in New Zealand
Melbourne-based ad agency The Surgery is experimenting with a radical new set up – its new creative director is based in New Zealand.
Managing director Simon Hakim told Mumbrella: “Location isn’t as important as having the right person.”
The agency has hired Matt Gibbins, who founded the agency Albion London before moving to New Zealand with his Kiwi wife.
Hakim, who split with The Surgery’s previous creative director Vito Tassone before Christmas, said: “Matt is amazing. I wanted a creative director who understood who we were and what we are about and people kept pointing to Matt.
“Is there really any reason why someone should be in the office 24/7? We will fly him here when we need him, and the rest of the time we talk on Skype.”
Gibbins is the sixth member of staff at The Surgery, whose clients have included Pacific Brands, LeasePlan and Pacific Beverage’s beer brand Grolsch.
Meanwhile, Hakim has organised an exhibition, to take place in Melbourne and Sydney, of the poster work of the famed European creative agency KesselsKramer.
It takes place in the Guildford Lane Gallery in Melbourne from June 4 to 14, and at Carriageworks in Sydney from June 18 to 28. it will include presentations from KesselKramer creative director Dave Bell.
Hakim said: “After hearing so much about the likes of KesselsKramer and Mother in London, I wanted to see it for myself what it was really like, so I visited. And I wanted to bring back that knowledge and experience to Australia. I thought it would be amazing to get them out here and show what they can do.”
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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Good on Simon for organizing an exhibition from KesselsKramer – I can’t wait to see it in Sydney.
& good luck for the virtual CD experiment – the most inspirational CD moments I’ve ever experienced (either having work reviewed or sold to clients) have happened face to face. That’s not to say it can’t work virtually – but the relationship must first be built, and nothing beats face to face – in my experience anyway. All the best though.
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This won’t work. Any agency culture is built by the people who are there. You can’t brainstorm over Skype.
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From what I know of the Surgery they’ve not done much that is great (I’m not slagging them off, they’re still young).
If doing things this way gets them someone world class then it will increase their hit rate. It’s not right for everyone, but may be for them.
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Thanks for all the posts. We’ve tried the virtual creative director thing for about 6 months now and it’s working well. The downside is that we can’t pull Matt into a face to face meeting at a moments notice (other than video over Skype).
Anonymous 9:53 pm if you’d like to know what it is really like, why not pick up the phone and speak to our creative team and see what they think (03) 9417 7125? In relation to face to face meetings, yes it’s an obvious challenge. However, with a bit of forward planning it works incredibly well. You’d be surprised.
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Here’s another example of how The Surgery keeps re-inventing the business and themselves.
During my stint in Melbourne I happened to be lucky enough to work with Simon and The Surgery and everyone with half a brain cell should have noticed the potential of these boys.
How many “creatives” do you know who keep talking about great work from others or agency philosophies? Well, I know many. But only Simon and Vito actually bought some tickets, jumped on the plane and went to visit the agencies and people they admired. To learn, to share and to get better.
This bold move towards a “virtual” creative director doesn’t come as a surprise for me, it’s much more the confirmation of their clear vision becoming reality.
The Surgery will always be high on my watchlist of agencies who will survive and come up with truly creative and innovative communication solutions. Even though we currently not share any clients, with the first opportunity arising I know where to find them.
Good luck Simon & The Surgery. You guys are unique and I sincerely hope you’ll always stay ahead of the game.
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Whenever anyone puts up an alternative or non-conforming version of a standard practice, the naysayers can’t gun them down quick enough because of their own tunnel-visioned view of the world.
And by the way, the world is flat you know !!!!
Just because it’s never been done before doesn’t mean it won’t work either.
What’s better, try something radically different & fail or follow the stock standard business model that gives you no apparent point of difference to the rest of the bottom-feeders in the industry ??
I reckon this is a very unique and clever plan with minimal downside to it so that when it fully kicks goals, many other agencies will follow suit very quickly.
Very keen to follow the progress as this one plays out – good luck to you boys !!!
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Just to echo the previous comment I would like to add that having worked in Human Resources for years, I still find it amazing that people are still cynical regarding the notion of people working remotely. Companies are always banging on about ‘flexible work arrangements’, ‘working from home’ and yet it is still not standard practice in most cases.
I love the idea the businesses, such as The Surgery, have a forward thing, creative solution to finding (and working) with the right person.
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What ever works for you. But in the end they will be judged on their work. So far we haven’t seen anything worth comenting on.
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All for trying new things. But where is the work?
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So just because you haven’t seen it you think the work can’t be any good? Does the work have to be famous and known throughout the industry to be deeply moving to an audience and effective for a brand?
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matthew gibbins says ‘give that internet stuff a try. you might like it. it. give it a try. try’. then he say
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Good luck Matt.
You’ve got a great chance to prove if it can work.
Just produce some brilliant campaigns. Or don’t.
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Good to see that someone is trying to approach business in a different way.
Good luck Simon to you and your team.
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Lets be serious, I don’t see anything new about working remotely, freelancers do it all the time.
Strawberry Frog have been doing it for years. The problem is people have short memories. An agency re-hashes an idea puts a bit of spin and bang… WOW how ground breaking.
Just sounds like “how do we get some media coverage when we have nothing really to say”. Maybe the best thing is to just get on with it and stop talking about it. Anyway Matt good luck with it.
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I worked with Matt at W + K London. And knowing how he approaches the work, I think will push the boundaries of the traditional ad agency set up. He did it very successfully at Albion London. Good luck.
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