Cheil Australia parts ways with creative director Roy Faulkner after less than a year
The creative director of Cheil Australia has left the agency after less than a year in the role.
Ex-M&C Saatchi, Mojo and Leo Burnett creative Roy Faulkner was brought in in April last year as Cheil’s first creative director as part of a plan to transform the Sydney office of the Korean network into a ‘truly Aussie agency”.
According to Faulkner’s LinkedIn profile, he left Cheil in December and now works for Agencyforchange, “a unique creative collective designed to provide not-for-profit organisations access to creative advertising”.
Cheil was formerly the inhouse agency of electronics giant Samsung. Though Samsung remains its largest client, Cheil has since been on a mission to win non-Samsung clients in Australia, as it has done successfully in other markets.
The agency moved offices at the start of last year, moving out of Samsung’s headquarters into a work space of its own to signal its independence. However, Cheil has yet to announce any new business wins.
Cheil Australia boss Andrew Swinton confirmed Faulkner’s departure, saying that a replacement has yet to be found.
Robin Hicks
Good on him. Too good for Cheil.
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Hmm. Rather than relying on my Linkedin profile and the words of the MD, you could always go straight to the source…
Roy
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Samsung or Samsunk? Bad move to lose a good, strong creative like Roy.
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Hi Roy,
I see your point, the story would have been better with a comment from you. I shall give you a shout tomorrow, if you’ve got a minute to chat.
Cheers,
Robin – Mumbrella
The last thing not for profits need is more pro bono from adland.
Use experts who understand fundraising – and I’m not one of them. Use Pareto or Jill ruchel or a fundraising agency from the us or uk. Using pro bono ad agencies will NOT EVER get you a better result…
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Thanks Dave, eloquently put. And that’s my point exactly. I don’t believe in pro bono work either, hence the comment about it forming a “Faustian relationship between agency and organization”.
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‘However, Cheil has yet to announce any business wins’ – no surprises there.
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Cheil’s only new business wins have been additional work from Samsung.
Business outside that is simply wishful thinking. Attracting and retaining
staff is a real issue
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The agency has potential but just needs to be creative in the way it pursues new business and be humble as to what that business is. Unfortunately in Australia unlike other markets, the parent organisation looks as if it’s unwilling to let it’s inhouse whipping post be anything different. It’s only real new business salvation short term will be an internationally aligned account won in another market unless it starts standing up for itself against big brother.
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Innoceon struggle to win business despite them having a half decent creative product. So what chance do Cheil have???
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I’ve met the guy a d seen the ideas he presented to client: great work, clever thinking. But the client rejected it. Shows how smart they are.
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I think there are a few pre-conceived perceptions about Cheil that are far from reality.
The perception seems to be that Cheil is simply a patsy agency to Samsung.
The reality is that this couldn’t be further from the truth.
Having spent over 3 years at Cheil I can honestly say that it is a tough environment when you are dealing with all the cultural issues involved as well as a demanding and lets face it, an incredibly successful client.
The totally transparent insights gained into the clients business are invaluable and anyone who has worked within Cheil on the Samsung business never approaches a client’s business in the same way again and is a real asset to any agency team.
The expectation is that Cheil is expected to have as much “skin in the game” as any marketing team member. Accountability becomes so much more than just a buzzword.
From what I have heard Roy made a valuable contribution to both Cheil and Samsung. Bringing about change creatively on a juggernaut global brand the size of Samsung is a slow process particularly when so much of the creative is led from a Regional and Global level. But as agencies in the US have demonstrated, it is possible over time to introduce fresh thinking at a local level.
Cheil faces the same challenges as Innocean but the edge they both bring to the table is something not to be ignored. And neither are the skills of those who have worked within each agency.
Good luck with your next challenge Roy!
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