James Greet returns to media to head up Mindshare, while John Petropoulos steps down
James Greet, widely credited with beginning the turnaround of OMD in Australia, is to return to the media agency world after an absence of four years, as CEO of Mindshare Australia.
Greet, co-owner of recruitment firm The Ladder, starts on June 1 in a move which sees John Petropoulos depart the agency.
Petropoulos has been with the agency for 12 years, initially as the MD of the Melbourne office and since late 2008, as CEO of the media agency’s national operations.
In other changes, Mark McCraith, currently general manager of Mindshare Melbourne will assume the role of MD for the office, reporting directly to Greet. Tracie Michael, Sydney MD, will also report to Greet.
Greet left OMD in 2006 to take a stake in The Ladder with its existing owner James Burke. He was credited with building the foundations of OMD’s turnaround, which was then seen through by Mark Coad.
Greet told Mumbrella: “In the short term I’ll keep my stake in the business which will continue to be run by James.
“I love running my own business but I still missed being involved directly in media and communications. I wouldn’t be doing it if I didn’t believe that I could take what we’ve already got and make it even better.”
The move is the latest in a series which has seen WPP attempt to raise its game with its Australian media agencies. Mediacom has been going through a restructure which has seen boss Toby Jenner moulding a new senior team.
Although WPP’s media agencies dominate in many part of the world, Group M has so far failed to overturn the dominance of Harold Mitchell’s Mitchell & Partners in Australia.
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large. He returned to Mumbrella as Publisher in January 2025
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this is absolutely awesome for mindshare – james greet is a bloody smart guy and i can’t wait to see what he does.
Things a bit quiet in the recruitment industry. Here’s a prediction for his first year
1. Consolidate the GroupM boys club power base
2. Massive changes in senior staff and more brits on board
3. Try to win an internationally aligned piece of business (which Mindshare haven’t been able to do for years) and is their only real claim to fame.
Assuming some success with the above
4. Compete with Jenner to fill the vacant GroupM Oz CEO role.
He has one thing on his side. Mindshare are the favoured GroupM child and he can play the “Investment Required” card.
Watch this space.
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Good result for the Mindshare crew
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This is great news for Mindshare. The guy will succeed.
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I finally thought WPP had woken up and replaced the Australian Mindshare Mgt (who fail to do here what they do elsewhere in the region/world i.e. lead) …and then I saw the Melbourne replacement… pity.
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Congraulations on the new gig James.
I hope you got the commission on the placement too
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Nice one Greety. Well done Mindshare.
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Good on you James. Excellent news to have you back in the media world. It will be a stronger industry for your return.
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@ Guy…Macca’s a good bloke, give him a go!
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Footnote to the above. I think this means every media agency group CEO , with the exception of Mitchells, is now Sydney based. It’s not quite there yet for all CEO’s to be poms, but surely only a matter of tiem.
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Let’s not forget Petshop’s contribution to JWT/Mindshare over the last 25 years. An incredible innings in todays environment
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A legendary innings I should say- all the very best Petrop!
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Don’t drink too deeply from that chalice. It may just be poison it holds.
Good luck trying to change the brand image from a bland ‘globally aligned partner’ to local innovative shop. That’s the problem with WPP, they want to be everything to everyone….and they can’t!
I wonder if they’ll ever appoint a woman to head up things.
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well done James, you’ll do well.
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Will be very interesting to see the dynamic between McCraith, Michael and Greet, none of whom are particularly comfortable with compromise.
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Ok Guys & Girls,
We are going through a period of change in media!
Everything is being commoditised, cheaper rates, client fees etc… new revenue angles MUST BE FOUND!
Otherwise us the people who live and breathe it will not benefit moving forward!
lets relate that to a football club, where you rebuild and thats where Mindshare is at!
They have decided the course of action moving forward which is postive!
Lets all embrace this and all of us over the next twelve months can truly comment whehter this is the right decsion moving forward.
Cheers,
Mindshare
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Unless the football club you relate it to is Portsmouth. In which case you call in the receivers.
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