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The idea that Australian advertising is getting worse is rubbish, says global Euro boss David Jones

David JonesThe idea that Australian advertising is on the wane is “rubbish”, former Euro RSCG Sydney boss David Jones – now the network’s global CEO – has said.

“I don’t think it’s true that advertising in Australia has got worse – that’s rubbish,” he told Mumbrella in Cannes yesterday.

“It’s got harder to win lions. Big budgets used to be something that helped developed markets win. That’s no longer the case.”

“What’s happened now is that ideas are cheaper to produce. Budget is no longer an obstacle. You don’t need to hire Tony Kay to produce a great ad,” said Jones, who chaired the Creative Effectiveness Lions in Cannes.

He said he doesn’t buy the argument that conservative clients or procurement is hurting creativity in Australia. “Look at Cannes. All the big clients are here. And they’re here to learn and support the industry,” he said.

“Ten years ago, you could argue that creativity was something agencies wanted to do, and clients saw it as an unnecessary extravagance. That’s not the case now.”

Jones added that it makes a better headline to say that advertising in Australia is deteriorating and that the industry is struggling.

“Our industry is having a rebirth as clients don’t know the rules of difficult marketing problems like social media and turn to agencies for help. It’s our job to show them the way with creative thinking,” he said.

He concluded: “The question I always get asked by analysts is: ‘why is it that years ago the advertising business was underperforming GDP, and now the opposite is true?’ We need to be more positive about our business.”

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