Starcom’s Nolan pledges not to give up on Perth despite sudden Mitchell sale
Media agency Starcom is to launch its own office in Perth, the agency said in an announcement rushed out on Friday evening after the locally badged Starcom office was swallowed by Mitchell Communication Group.
Alan Mathews, understood to be the main owner of the Starcom-badged Perth agency, has also signed a five year employment contract with Mitchells, the company said in a filing to the ASX.
According to Mitchells: “The acquisition by MCU instantly elevates the Group to the position of Western Australia’s largest media buyer”.
However, Starcom’s chief operating officer Chris Nolan signalled that he would fight to keep Starcom’s WA clients including Metcash and Subway.
Nolan said: “Starcom is committed to providing the highest standard of service to our national clients which includes offering full service offices in each capital city. We have decided to fund our own office in Perth to achieve this goal.”
Speculation that the sale took Starcom by surprise will be fuelled by the fact that Starcom was unable to announce who would staff the agency.
There has been bad blood between MCG chairman Harold Mitchell and Nolan since Nolan walked out on the agency four years ago at the same time as Mal Dale and Paul Blatchford.
In his newly published autobiography Mitchell says: “I believe that they wanted to go elsewhere and take a good portion of our business with them. They probably weren’t as clever as they should have been. They left behind a trail of telephone and computer records so we could see what they were up to.
“Do I forgive? yes. Do I forget? No.”
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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