Thubron: “Just when the industry needs more Scott Whybins, we appear to be blessed with less and less of them”
Scott Whybin’s announcement that he was leaving his namesake agency in favour of setting up a new and as-yet-unnamed agency has been described by ad industry veteran Ian Thubron as a great loss to the industry.
Thubron, formerly of TBWA\Hong Kong, Oglivy Shanghai and M&C Saatchi Greater China, commented on Whybin’s departure in a post published via his LinkedIn.
“An ex-colleague sent me an SMS this morning asking, “Have you seen the news about Scott Whybin?”. Thanks to Google, it didn’t take more than a couple of seconds to see that he’s resigned from his agency Whybin\TWBA, 21 years after he founded it.”
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Whybin resigned from Whybin\TBWA ending his 21 years with the agency but told Mumbrella he plans to set up an new agency that will not be defined by the constructs of traditional agencies.
Thubron, who was CEO of TBWA\Hong Kong for six years from 2004 to 2010 and executive vice president of TBWA\Asia Pacific from 2004-21015, wrote the “‘business as usual’ memo from TBWA’s leadership” left him thinking.
“Here goes another great of the advertising industry, an industry once led by real leaders, now populated by pygmies and managers and corporate yes-men.
“I loved by 25 years in the global advertising industry, and I’m blessed to be able to bring that experience to bear now in a different country and a different field. But love it as I did, I certainly did not miss the inanity that Bob Hoffman referred to yesterday at Advertising Week Europe as “The Golden Age of Bullshit”.
“Just when the industry needs more Scott Whybins, we appear to be blessed with less and less of them.”