Exiting R/GA boss Holloway claims agency was ‘floundering’ and ‘all over the place’
The outgoing boss of creative agency R/GA has claimed that when he joined the agency last year, its new Sydney operation was already “floundering” and that “the structure was all over the place”.
Jon Holloway says he joined R/GA in Australia when it was “floundering”
The comments from Jon Holloway come in his recently updated LinkedIn profile, as he officially left the employment of the agency last week.
Owned by Interpublic, R/GA – seen as one of the world’s great agency brands – launched in Australia in 2013. Its client list includes ANZ Banking Group, Qantas, Telstra, Red Bull and Twitter. The agency’s global output is led by Australian, Nick Law, who is the network’s global chief creative officer.
Initially launched by managing director Ameer Youssef before he returned to New York, R/GA Australia was then run by Andy Wright, who left to co-found agency For The People.
Holloway took the helm of R/GA after short stints in management roles at agencies TCO and The Works. It emerged in August that he would be leaving R/GA just 15 months into his role.
Yesterday Holloway penned a blog post declaring that the traditional advertising agency model faces destruction – “killed by complacency, a lack of trust and an inability to be transparent”. He wrote:
“They could have taken on the gap in digital disruption and new opportunities, but they couldn’t. Instead they played at it, they took ad thinking to business problems and fucked it all up. Some are still trying, they won’t succeed.”
And Holloway predicted: “the inevitable unravelling of media agencies because of their inability to be truthful and transparent”.
In the post, Holloway said he has now left the advertising world.
In his newly updated profile on LinkedIn, Holloway claims his brief was: “Simple job, start again and bring the R/GA DNA to Australia and make it rock.”
He did not explain in the post why he was leaving the role so soon.
Holloway has been replaced with former R/GA executive Rebecca Bezzina. Recent days have also seen the departure of executive creative director Gavin McLeod for a job in the USA, and of the award-winning creative team of Will Winter-Irving and Pat Anderson, who joined With Collective.
After his exit from the advertising world, Holloway now describes himself as an “accelerator of ideas, founder, digital product disruptor”.
Update: In an additional post on LinkedIn, Holloway has argued that the above article is “hyperbole”. He writes:
“In hindsight, I used the wrong wording. When talking about when I JOINED R/GA, I wrote that it was ‘floundering’ and that the ‘structure was all over the place’. Definitely the wrong way to say it, but we all make mistakes. As with all businesses, when a new MD joins, there is a reason, it’s very rarely all sparkles. However I get that it wasn’t particularly smart and I have apologised to the bosses at R/GA and the team personally.
“I, I, I, I, everything started with I. When I was writing articles about the death of this and that, it was because I thought I knew better, I thought I had the answers. That was 5 years ago, my ego was out of control.
“It’s taken 5 years to change myself, to be coached, to let others in, to listen. I will always keep challenging conventional wisdom, it’s in my blood, but now it isn’t my ego talking. I truly want to affect change.”
I think you’ll find Jon has been out of the business since September. Guess he was on gardening leave until December
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If he leaves advertising how will he continue to tell everyone that is dying/dead? What will we do when we can’t read his waffle about how he has all the answers and the industry is terminal?
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How on earth did Mumbrella really pick this up? Jon over the years has received way too much air time on these pages. Perhaps it’s time for airing less of one’s opinion and more nose to the grindstone and let the agency’s work do the talking.
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This article is misleading click bait. R/GA are not ‘floundering’ and ‘all over the place’ They have just moved into a huge new office to house their rapidly growing staff and serve an impressive client list…
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No one escapes their reputation.
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Let’s not publish any more of his musings. He is the David Icke of Adland.
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Hi Will,
The article is written as fairly as we can make it. Jon Holloway is entitled to his views, but I hope that the casual reader would not think we are endorsing them by reporting them.
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
The Tall Poppy Syndrome is holding us all back!
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I think it is definitely fair to say that RGA are floundering. They have delivered on almost none of the promise of their brand and it’s illustrious New York agency and pretty much every talented thinker, be they creative or strategic, has left the agency. The culture is lacking and the work is ordinary
It is also fair to say that Mr Holloway has not left a track record of success or esteemed ex colleagues and clients at any of his agency stops. His public writing is cliche ridden and poorly expressed and he has achieved very little of note. His constantly negative pronouncements about the state and future of the industry remind me of the dateless teenager at a disco professing how nobody is good enough for him
he will not be missed
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WHO CARES? Jon constantly whines and moans about how crap the advertising business is. His LinkedIn posts that range from condescending to “I’m smarter than everyone, bow before me”-esque rants, his commentary will not be missed. Good riddance.
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accelerator of ideas, founder, digital product disruptor
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He’s Dunning Kruger in full effect this lad.
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David Icke of Adland… such a great call
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Reading his illiterate musings, self-aggrandising descriptions (“disruptor” – of what, exactly?), and that unprofessional LinkedIn update tells you all you need to know about who’s really “floundering” and “all over the place”. I CFB by Dec junk C BnB
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The tall tales this guy tells.
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Why are there never former staff extolling Jon for his mentorship and leadership? Or former clients gushing at Jon’s advice or the results he has delivered them?
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Of course Jon is going to say anything he can to make his tenure at R/GA seem a success. Those in the know, know that the truth isn’t always displayed on a public LinkedIn profile.
I’d expect to see and hear a lot more from R/GA with Bezzina back on board.
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Hi Jon. Best of luck with your new career. There’s a lesson here I guess in what one achieves vs what one claims.
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Perfect. He truly does believe he is ‘The Digital Son of God’.
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I worked for Jon for a few years and I learnt a lot from him.
The industry needs someone to keep reminding us the model is imploding. It’s an unpopular job, but someone’s got to do it.
Jon, still read your stuff and still value the contribution you’ve made to my career. Thank you.
Looking forward to seeing what you do next.
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4 MD’s in 3 years tells you everything about R/GA.
A shiny new (very cold, dystopian) office doesn’t mask the fact they have created very little in this market. Even the last Google project was a clear ripoff of an award winning project from 2014: https://thefwa.com/cases/moon
What did Bezzina do at Cummins? Other than wait for Jon to leave.
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R/GA floundering? They’ve just won all Toyota digital business.
and ‘the David Icke of Adland’ is brilliant @please
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at the end of the day the work produced from an agency is the real gauge of success. the fact that the sydney office has not produced anything noteworthy since launch is the real story. lots of so-called high calibre and hand picked talent hasn’t really produced much. they had a huge halo to start with, which would have opened a lot of doors. it was a head start that one can only dream of. a below average mark in my book, and not just for the person in this article.
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Toyota have around a 6 agencies covering everything from technical implementation to creative. By the time these guys touch anything it’s a bit of design, maybe strategy and the rest is done by someone else. It’s hardly all of digital.
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Might be worth adding Jon’s response to this article somewhere… https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/setting-record-straight-jon-holloway?trk=prof-post
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Looking forward to seeing what donkey you ride into town on in 2017, Jon. Better be disruptive and world-changing otherwise you’re going to look like a bit of dill. No pressure.
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I’m sure toyota would be thrilled to know they outsource all of their digital development work
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Whatever one might think of his opinions, he alway put his name to them.
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