Atomic 212’s case against former CEO Jason Dooris heads to court after his house is searched
The complex court battle between Atomic 212 and its former CEO Jason Dooris has ramped up, involving wide-ranging allegations on both sides and a search of Dooris’ home to collect, and search, electronic devices.
Yesterday’s virtual Supreme Court proceedings also revealed that the agency believes Dooris used a fake Atomic 212 email address to “nefarious[ly]” impersonate its chair, Barry O’Brien, and trick the agency’s staff into sending him confidential information such as client and pricing lists.
In court yesterday, Atomic 212’s barrister was frustrated. Dooris – who exited after a Mumbrella investigation revealed he had made misleading claims to win industry awards – had supplied just 28 of the 83 passwords he’s required by the court to hand over.
Those passwords are necessary for an independent computer expert to access and search the many devices collected last month as part of the search on Dooris’ home. On 27 April, the independent computer expert and independent solicitor executed the search order, motivated by Atomic 212’s suspicion that Dooris is in possession of client lists, pricing information, and other confidential material.
As an observer from a competitive agency I just want to remark what a brilliant job Barry and others have done rebuilding this brand and its credibility – despite the holy mother of all distractions. Well done everyone – its very impressive.
Hhmmm,
Why didn’t Dooris just do his job – and not get caught up in all this rubbish. Everyone knows Media Agencies get involved with “additional fees” from Media Owners.
How is he managing to find the time for all this, as well as post graduate studies at Oxford!
Underbelly : Aus Media Agencies
Tip of the iceberg for the entire industry. Fraud and kickbacks have always been rife in media. The revelations will not shock or surprise anybody in agency land or media owners. Clients have suspected and many have known about this for years, but the greased up wheels keep turning because there are so many vested interests making money on the side it’s almost impossible to unravel. The programmatic scandal will hopefully prise open this whole stinking pit – advertisers deserve much better
Thanks for telling the truth.
See also – clients aren’t stupid.
I sense a few clients may be getting an audit underway
Barry and team have been through hell and back it sounds. Our dealings with them have always been great and James/Barry are extremely nice, forthright people. All the best to the A212 team through this hell.
SO 2017.. how is this still going?
With the ACCC investigation into media agencies kicking off this article should serve as a warning to media publishers that names on both sides may be revealed.
Are media publishers complicit in dodgy dealings? Are there individual personal benefits for paying agencies kickbacks?
It takes two to tango…..
What a great opportunity the ACCC investigation presents to weed out the dodgy and reset our industry. Creating a level playing field so that clients pay a fair price for a talented media agency based on quality of work instead of cheapest rate. Marketers STILL don’t realise by choosing cheap that they are getting diddled – not checking invoices for extra zeros added and not checking documentation from the media publishers showing true cost vs marked up cost – rolling into hundreds of thousands of dollars.
There are honest transparent agencies with talented teams. After decades of dodgy agencies it’s now their time to shine and win business based on merit. Media publishers know who the transparent agencies are because they aren’t asking for kickbacks – so support them above the fraudsters.
The moral to this story is marketers – don’t believe cheap and media agency/publishers don’t believe that it won’t come out in the wash. How do you want your career to be remembered?
Teeeeaaaaa (in the voice of Alaska from RPDR/RaceChaser podcast)
Heads of media also grease the wheels of senior leaders in organisations (free tickets/season passes/dinners etc). I started a media audit when I worked at one of Australia’s largest advertisers – the CEO of the media agency called my CMO and I was told to close the audit down.
Hi Hmmmm…,
If we had an agenda, we could have left it out completely. So I completely reject that suggestion.
It’s down the bottom because it’s older information. It did not emerge in court yesterday which is the ‘new’ news.
The allegations against Barry O’Brien and Atomic 212, which they deny, are contained in Jason Dorris’ defence, which was filed some time ago.
We provided it for balance and additional context.
When these allegations, and indeed those against Dooris, are discussed in court, we will provide more detail.
Vivienne – Mumbrella
Hi BA,
To clarify:
* We didn’t have access to the court documents earlier
* We didn’t ignore it. It’s in this story. You obviously read it here before you left the comment, so that’s an odd accusation
* People who are weary are welcome to go to AdNews (which covered the accusations against Dooris, but not his defence or follow-up accusations) and B&T (also hasn’t covered off the defence or the court case)
* We will continue to cover the court case and what both sides say
* I am not Tim Burrowes. Neither is Brittney who authored this piece. So who Tim does or doesn’t like is irrelevant to me
* Any biases or vested interests you may have?
Enjoy your afternoon,
Vivienne – Mumbrella
Triggered.