Industry churn – Enero style
Industry churn is usually associated with a procession of Gen Y juniors coming in and leaving agencies with alarming regularity.
However Australian based holding group Enero seems to have rather the opposite problem – losing the heads of its agencies on an all too frequent basis.
Since Matthew Melhuish took over as CEO of the group in January 2012 (Photon as it was then) all but one of the eight agencies with an Australian operation have had at least one change in management, five of them in the last two months.
Dr Mumbo has compiled a timeline of the recent movements:
Fish. Head. Rot.
Not to mention Chrissie Blackburn going from The Leading Edge.
Their one true talent.
Enero was not a nice company to work for. That is putting it as mildly as I can.
Ricci Meldrum out as BMF Melb MD in 2013
Chris Kay out BMF Syd MD in late 2012
Enero actually has a highly paid HR Director, very closely aligned to the CEO, involved in all of the hires
Along the way there has been a huge churn factor in agency brands within Photon/Enero that have effectively disappeared too. Of course this has resulted in bonuses for management who have been incredibly rewarded for reducing costs by shutting down agency brands.
See other topic about loyalty…
If your chosen brand doesnt fulfill your needs, you find an alternative.
Marlborough Man nailed it.
“Churning”. Also the sound my stomach makes when I sail my yacht on the harbour and count my bonus.
No wonder BWM wanted out so badly – Enero hasn’t got a good track record in growing its brands to say the least.
How do you start a small business? Sell a big one to Enero.
Reading this reminded me of Geekdom
how does this article add any benefit to the world we live in? dr mumbo you must be so proud of this piece.
So many talented people, so many departures.
Enero lost touch on what makes an Agency great.
It’s people. Not the dollars.
Dark Blue Sea sound amazing
so…some execs have been there a short time (but not that short really by today’s standards) and some of them have been there a while. Not that different to most agency groups really. Wow! Great journalism
Ennnnnneeeerrrrrooo-Ka-Ka-ka! (Vic reeves stylie)
Last 3 years…BMF…shrunk. Naked…shrunk. Precint…shrunk. TLE…shrunk. digital edge…shrunk. Jigsaw…shrunk. Deep Blue sea…probably grew!
Great business model.
Come on Gobber 7:58 its not some executives – its ALL the leaders of Enero’s main brands. The current CEO/HR director hired each of them and in a short space of time they have all chosen elsewhere to make their living. Photon had to change its name to Enero because its brand was irreparably damaged , in two short years under current management Enero has now got an even worse reputation.
@Good Journalism “the current CEO/HR director hired each of them” not sure of your point? who else would have hired them?
“worse reputation” based on what evidence?
be a lover not a hater. you’ll enjoy it more.
Hi Gobber 10:59 the previous management could have hired them. My point is that these senior leaders were hired by the current management and have subsequently left – suggesting either that the current CEO/HR director aren’t very good at choosing senior hires or alternatively not very good at motivating and retaining top talent.
The industry wide feedback I get about Enero’s reputation is overwhelmingly consistent: ‘a small, shrinking, poorly lead, disparate collection of unhappy companies’ just about covers it. Happy to be proved wrong based on your evidence about Enero’s positive reputation and future prospects.
The previous management could have hired them. Sharp as a tack.
Industry wide feedback? You must be really important.
As someone who used to work for Enero I could not agree more with the sentiments expressed here on Enero, the CEO, and HR.
After 18 months of oblivious management and championing competitors products on all-staff communications, Stinton has earned a break.
“Brilliant”
“How do you start a small business? Sell a big one to Enero.”
Inside Adland joke of the year.