Paul Brooks leaves MediaCom for Carat chief investment officer role
Simon Ryan (l) and Paul Brooks
MediaCom’s chief investment officer Paul Brooks has jumped the fence to rivals Carat as the battle to be Australia’s biggest media agency hots up.
The move to snare the well-regarded Brooks will be seen as a coup for Carat as it looks to push its credentials as the biggest agency in Australia after absorbing several clients from fellow-Aegis agency Mitchell & Partners since the retirement of Harold Mitchell last August.
Brooks will be taking up the new role of chief investment officer and partnerships at Carat, based in Sydney but with a national remit.
CEO Simon Ryan told Mumbrella: “I’m absolutely thrilled to have Paul on board to be part of the Carat national team. Paul brings great experience and market knowledge to what will be a great role for him.”
MediaCom boss Mark Pejic described Brooks as a “great guy who gave MediaCom fantastic service for five years” and said they were now actively recruiting a replacement for his role.
Englishman Brooks headed up trading for GroupM’s largest agency, moving to that role in December 2011 after joining the agency early in 2009 from sister agency Mindshare London.
Last year’s RECMA agency billing figures put initially showed MediaCom as the largest agency by spend with $1.2bn, but that figure was later revised to include a “long tail” of smaller client billings, which saw OMD and Mitchells named as top agencies.
In September Carat picked up L’Oreal from UM, while they are understood to be vying with MediaCom among others on current pitches including Coca-Cola and the Federal Government’s master media account which are both out for tender.
Alex Hayes
