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Cummins & Partners puts Toronto office in administration after president is dismissed

Sean Cummins has closed the Canadian outpost of the independent international full-service agency network Cummins & Partners after just a year.

"You simply shouldn’t have a start-up agency geared to a start-up client": Cummins

“You simply shouldn’t have a start-up agency geared to a start-up client”: Cummins

Sean Cummins has closed the Canadian outpost of the independent international full-service agency network Cummins & Partners after just a year.

The Toronto-born Australian adman told Mumbrella the move was disappointing but necessary as the agency burned through cash on the back of poor local management decisions and the loss of its major client, but vowed to return to the country with a better prepared strategy.

The agency has been placed in administration, with the decision to lower the shutters after just one year coming several weeks after president of the office, Dave Carey, was dismissed in the wake of internal investigations.

It is believed that Cummins is seeking legal advice on the matter.

The launch of the Toronto office last April was a highly personal project for Cummins who was born and spent his formative years there before his Australian parents returned home, with Cummins always having expressed a desire to create a successful Canadian business.

The agency opened with foundation client, financial transactions business Zenbanx, and then picked up the Canadian Nando’s business.

(L-R): Andrew Shortt, Steve Hajula, Yash Keough, Dave Carey, Sean Cummins, Duc Banh, Marcus Veres (sitting)

Agency launch team: (L-R): Andrew Shortt,
Steve Hajula, Yash Keough,
Dave Carey, Sean Cummins, Duc Banh,
Marcus Veres (sitting)

However, Zenbanx saw its funding pulled earlier this year, leaving the startup agency without a major client – a move Cummins said was a fatal flaw in the business plan.

“Unfortunately when Zenbanx had their funding pulled that put the business under immense pressure. Although we rapidly restructured following this news, we now think that this is the most prudent decision,” Cummins said.

“You simply shouldn’t have a start-up agency geared to a start-up client.”

He said that despite the setback, he believed that Canada was still a growth market for Cummins & Partners and he would return with a rebooted business plan and strategy when the conditions were right.

“We had one major pitch in our short time, against 14 of Canada’s best agencies,” he said.

“And we won. So I know our culture and model resonates. And when conditions are ripe we will look to reboot the brand.”

He told Mumbrella that his approach of self-funding the launch of the agency meant he was not willing to risk further loses and needed to take the prudent decision. He noted that the closure of Toronto would have no impact on the other agencies in the network in Sydney, Adelaide, Melbourne and New York, which operate as stand alone business units under the local managing partners.

“Being an independent and a start-up means you can take risks and be entrepreneurial,” he said.

“And part of that means giving freedom and trust to people and partners to deliver on the opportunity and vision. Unfortunately, it has not delivered in this case.”

He said that all staff from the agency had since found re-employment.

Cummins’ desire to set up in the country of his birth mirrors that of David Droga who also had a passion to launch an arm of his agency in his homeland, with Droga5 Sydney succumbing to market forces and closing its doors in December after seven years.

Simon Canning

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