New digital agency Reading Room: time to end the big agency bullshit
British digital agency Reading Room has re-opened a Sydney operation and immediately launched a broadside at rival agencies, accusing them of “big agency bullshit” and “padding the bill”.
Creative director Andrew Richardson, pictured right, said: “We believe the way many agencies operate is not in the interests of the client.
“There are some great agencies who are doing good work, but others are going to find it harder to compete in a post-GFC climate. Budgets are tighter and clients are naturally looking for smart people who can deliver without the big agency bullshit.”
He claimed: “Reading Room keeps costs low by making clients’ needs central to the process, so there are no long delays, expensive revisions and excessive management hours padding the bill.”
Richardson – who was creative director at Amnesia – left the agency in November to move to the UK. According to the Reading Room announcement he will initially be based there “to get fully acquainted with the processes and thinking that have made Reading Room a success”. Richardson is one of Australia’s most followed tweeters, with a Twitter following of 82,000.
Also on the team is fellow ex-Amnesia staffer Tom Voirol, who will be the agency’s Sydney director. The third member of the management team is Cathie McGinn, formerly of Photon company Geekdom and boutique search and social media agency LCB Media.
Voirol’s background is as a specialist in online user experience. He said: “Our process cuts out the sales people and account managers who can talk the talk but can’t walk the walk. All clients have direct contact with a dedicated team, not someone in the middle who has limited understanding of strategy, development or execution.”
He added: “What makes Reading Room unique is that clients only pay when the work is signed off by the client – so it’s in our interests to get it right.”
McGinn, a member of the Social Media Club Sydney organising committee who also blogs at The Year of the Cat, said “There aren’t many agencies around that really understand how important it is to integrate user experience, design and technology with social media and search from the outset.”
Reading Room, based in Surry Hills, officially opened its doors on Monday.
The 13-year-old, independently owned UK company, already has a low key Canberra operation which is mainly focused on government business along with Sydney Harbour Trust and the Australian Museum.
Global CEO Margaret Manning said the decision to reopen in Sydney was based on Australia surviving the GFC better than any other developed nation. She said: “Australia has weathered the global financial crisis better than other countries, the country punches well above its weight on the global web stage and its huge talent base is immensely attractive.”
4.45pm Update: As the comment thread suggests, this is Reading Room’s second attempt to crack the Sydney market. The first effort began in 2001. It was led by James Canavan, who is now at Moon Communications, from 2003-2007 who said in his Linked In profile that there were around 20 staff.
In the comment thread, Voirol confirms: “Reading Room Australia closed its doors in Sydney in mid-2008. We’ve spent a lot of time thinking about how we could do things better and have learnt a lot in the meantime.”
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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Best of luck guys!
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Congratulations guys, love the “we’re going to mess you up… in a library!” pose 😉
Wishing you all the best of luck, certainly can’t fault the team line up.
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Um, don’t you mean “reopened”.
http://au.linkedin.com/in/voirol
s.
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It’s going to be a smackdown in the Reading Room – awesome!
Good luck, looking forward to seeing great things!
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Congrats guys.
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“big agency bullshit” and “padding the bill” – I like your style.
Good luck with the new agency.
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What’s with the daisy chain of group reach arounds going on here? They call out everyone else in the industry as thieves and lazy pricks and you all line up and oliver twist?
Oh and kudos for the photoshoot, very clever! Can’t wait to see you translate that sort of creativity to your first client campaign – should be a zinger!
Snark aside, best of luck.
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All the best Andrew, Tom & Cathie. Look forward to following your progress.
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This is awesome news, what a great team, these guys are really going to shake things up.
So smart and looking super cool in that Library, I really get the feeling that they read a lot. I wonder if any of them are single?
Hey wait, did I log in as me or Anonymous?
Oh shit…
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How long did it take to photoshop a shirt onto Richo?
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@Adrian You’re right, I actually hate those guys, with their pressed white shirts and handsome grins, but I just live in fear of Cathie “the Red Death” McGinn.
As the ads used to say, “that’s the power of the Copper Top!”
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Yeah – reopened not launching http://tinyurl.com/y9fgvbu
Seems the “bullshit” has already started, so much for their “time to end big agency bullshit” line.
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Best of luck guys…look forward to hearing more and having a drink on Friday.
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Richo – you look like an ape that’s been shaved and dragged through a bridal store…..
Best of luck boys. Think you’ll do very well
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“clients only pay when the work is signed off by the client – so it’s in our interests to get it right.” hmmm
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@Monkey I just spat all over my keyboard.
I suspect I must know you well, only close friends could exactly describe the process I went through the week before my wedding.
We’re headed to drinks at the James Squire Brewhouse tonight to celebrate. All welcome.
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blah blah blah bullshit bullshit bullshit
“There are some great agencies who are doing good work, but others are going to find it harder to compete in a post-GFC climate. Budgets are tighter and clients are naturally looking for smart people who can deliver without the big agency bullshit.”
be quiet. less blah more demonstrable results.
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why do start ups have a big chip on their shoulder. Always talking about delivering what the client wants without the crap, blah blah blah. If i was a prospective client, the first question I’d ask is why weren’t you this way at your previous agency.
With all the new start ups and their common point of difference…it will be a very competitive market
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Uh oh. Here comes trouble.
(I personally am a fan of trouble, especially when it’s forged by these three.)
Best of luck, guys!
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Reading Room isn’t a new agency (see the link), but with this move we’re bringing in new top-notch people together with a new approach to the Australian market.
The Canberra office has had continued success since it first opened in 2004. The renewed and expanded Sydney presence with a new team here is part of the global expansion of Reading Room.
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paul – it’s generally the old ‘we were the bullshit artists at our old big agency employers so we know their … erm … tricks’
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Andrew’s photo is about right, he’s only 3 shelves high, comes up around my waist. (thats why he’s popular!).
Good luck guys, Hope it all goes well.
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Sorry Tom, but closing the Sydney office and reopening it a year later with the same MD and a fraction of the former headcount isn’t global expansion. Why not just call a spade a spade? Just say you’ve hired some people, and you’re starting again. It’s not headline material but it’s a credible story.
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How silly of me for getting it so wrong. And BMF and BWM and Three Drunk Monkeys and Mojo and Clems and Leo’s and everybody else making their clients successful and doing it for less than we ever have. Sorry, but the only bullshit is your PR release Reading Room.
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I hope they do, though the whole keeping costs low by focusing on client needs & big agency bullshit thing has been said before and before and before….
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I seem to have heard this before.
This is a case of what could be good news, being quality people re-opening a digital agency, being tainted by questionable PR.
Tom, I have to ask, when you are quoted as saying “What makes Reading Room unique is that clients only pay when the work is signed off by the client” . . do you really think this is unique?
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That is a great point, Peter.
What percentage of agencies do you reckon do not raise any up-front charges, retainer fees or monthly account payments but actually only invoice against signed-off deliverables for project phases which are transparently defined at the outset?
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I have no idea, and I don’t think anyone else does either . . . that’s my point. I have met quite a few digital agencies over the year that only charge on completion of the job, but wouldn’t presume to know the number.
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If you charge more, you might survive this time.
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Welcome to the jungle . Hope you can continue to make waves in the market . I love it when people stir the pot – we have been doing it in the mobile area and its lots of fun : ) Cheers Paul
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looking forward to the work…best of luck!
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Not to be confused with ‘the’readingroom dot com – Even though there is a photo of bookshelves in this post.
Good luck with your new company.
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Reading Room Australia closed its doors in Sydney in mid-2008. We’ve spent a lot of time thinking about how we could do things better and have learnt a lot in the meantime.
The new team is about bringing some new thinking and a broader range of skills to Reading Room’s proven model along with greater expertise and insight into the Australian market.
I am thrilled to be part of this team and am proud to represent a company that has the courage to acknowledge where things didn’t go well and adapt.
We’re happy to let our work speak for itself…
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Muuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuch better 😉
Bet it feels better to say too!
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Intro now edited to say reopened rather than opened.
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
God Steven your smug ‘up your own arse’ attitude is really not very attractive. Good on you Tom. Looking forward to seeing how you and team give the industry a bit of a shake up.
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Oh I’m shaking already.
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You’re right, I should have also said “good luck to you and the team”.
I was still stuck on my reaction to comment #20, but comment #33 was the real deal so it’s time to move on.
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Ho hum, anything new? But best of luck to the revolutionaries, don’t we all start that way?
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The reality is that you can’t really knock the RR guys for the ‘we’re a wind of change, the dinosaurs better watch out, we’re different’ PR release.
When you’re a start up / re-open you often don’t really have anything else to say that can be truly meaningful. It’s only when you have the clients, the work and the results to talk about that it really means anything anyhow.
They know that. So do we.
Good luck guys.
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Best of luck to the three of you. New, feisty competition in the industry is always welcome……
Unfortunately you picked ReadingRoom… my advice?… just watch your backs. UK management might not be the honest or decent people they seem to be. Some people are only interested in looking out for number 1.
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Ok people
Am I wrong about this or have I heard this stuff before.
Isn’t it standard tactics for a start up (or start again) to position yourself like this? Isn’t this the most strategically obvious thing you could do?
Seriously, list strategic options for an opening position, .
Then underline the most frequently used ones. Then read this press release.
Then yawn, have a good stretch and relax because if this is the best they can come up with your clients are not going anywhere.
It must be nice to sleep well for a change.
Don’t get me wrong, I like the look of the guy with the stubble (if you read this, email me please and we can take this conversation off-line) and red hair is hot on the girl, but it’s déjà vous all over again. (Can I say that? is that how déjà vous works?)
Yawn. Where’s my drink?
X
Lavinia
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Awesome news! Glad to see you back in business! Good luck guys!
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It’s all my fault. I’m sorry.
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Lavinia you could be onto something:
thread switch – https://mumbrella.com.au/morgan-ad-agencies-suffering-from-lack-of-women-in-creative-roles-16670
# Margaret Manning (CEO of Reading Room, London)
4 Feb 10
8:04 am
In reply to “A Fact” – you are simply hiding chauvinism behind a threadbare excuse. I grew an agency from2 people to 150 people with around 50% female senior managers. At present half our creative directors are female, and over half of our senior execs are female. Talent crosses gender, crosses race and in the creative industries this should outweigh the bias that sadly taints some of the comments above. Your loss is our gain, Reading Room embrace talent wherever it is found. So girls (and boys and indeed those unsure) if you want to be taken seriously for what you are independent of gender come talk to us.
So expect them to be an equal opportunity employer at the very least.
All the best to RR I am a fan covered in poo of my employer!
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We’re delighted to see that other agencies are joining us on our mission to end big agency bullshit.
http://amnesiablog.wordpress.c.....t-or-cold/
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