Grey Melbourne: Mumbrella Creative Agency Review – an effective ‘safe pair of hands’
The newly published Mumbrella Creative Agency Review examines Australia’s top 30 ad agencies. Today Robin Hicks examines how Grey Melbourne has fared over the last 12 months.
Grey Melbourne has built a solid reputation as a government communications specialist, and is described by one panellist as “one of the safest pairs of hands in advertising”. So it is a little ironic that its sibling is G2, a self-styled ‘vice agency’ with British American Tobacco as its biggest client.
But the family connection is as far the relationship goes, with the two agencies operating very independently. This may explain why Grey Melbourne gets a low score in our survey for integration. Not that the distance between the two brands will worry Grey. Besides, it was the integration category at Cannes that brought Grey Melbourne a Lion for bedrock client Transport Accident Commission, an account it has successfully defended this year.
Ripple effect’ won a bronze for the WPP agency, adding to a handsome pile of awards Grey has won for TAC in more than three decades of service. The campaign brought together the perspectives of 26 different people affected by the road death of Luke Robinson, telling the story piece by piece across a range of media. But as lucrative and creatively rewarding as TAC has been for Grey over a 21 year relationship, the risk of an account like this is that it can tie its agency down. “Outstanding work on TAC, but not much else,” notes one panelist. “Stable if a little dull – a one trick pony,” says another.
The appointment of a new management team under managing partner Luke Waldren aims to shift that reputation. Michael Knox has been brought in from Ogilvy Melbourne as ECD, replacing the outgoing Ant Shannon. Work for John West Tuna supports another panellist’s view that “Grey Melbourne is capable of coming up with little gems”. But low scoring for creativity, momentum and impact on the industry suggests that Waldren has work to do on the agency’s profile.
One area he will have no desire to change is Grey’s reputation for effectiveness – its best score in our survey. This chimes with Grey’s ‘famously effective’ positioning, something the TAC has always banked on it delivering.
To read more about Grey Melbourne, including full details on how it was scored by both our expert panel and Mumbrella’s own readers, to view examples of the agency’s work and read its own assessment of its performance, buy a copy of the Mumbrella Creative Agency Review priced at $75. The book features an assessment of the country’s top 30 ad agencies. To buy the book, click here.
