Tom Martin and Julian Schreiber exit Cummins & Partners for Special Group
Cummins&Partners Sydney has lost its two executive creative directors and partners Tom Martin and Julian Schreiber, who are leaving to join Special Group as partners and executive creative directors.
The promotions come after James Greet recently departed Cummins&Partners as its chief media officer.
Six months ago Cummins&Partners global chief financial officer Chris Atkin also quietly departed the agency, while in March global chief strategy director Adam Ferrier and joint ECDs Jim Ingram and Ben Couzen left the independent creative agency to launch Thinkerbell.
New Cummins&Partners creative directors, Avish Gordhan and Mandie van der Merwe
Prior to their time overseas, Schreiber and Martin both worked as creative directors at Clemenger BBDO Melbourne for seven years and worked on the NAB ‘Break Up’ campaign and Melbourne Tourism’s ‘Remote Control Tourist’.
Lindsey Evans, CEO and founding partner of Special Group, said: “Their experience, ambition and shared values are second to none and there is perfect alignment in approach to creativity, culture and commerce. Tom and Jules are creative problem solvers in the truest sense.
“We have some of the most exciting opportunities of our careers in front of us working across brand strategy, experience, design and advertising with brilliant clients and world class talent in a wonderful culture,” Evans said.
Mandie van der Merwe and Avish Gordhan are set to replace the duo as creative directors.
Joining the agengy from TBWA in 2015, Van der Merwe has been promoted from her previous role as a senior art director.
Van der Merwe said in a statement: “We are a highly motivated, diverse and creative group of people in Sydney. I’m looking forward to building on this foundation and pushing the quality of work even further.
“Personally, I’m excited to be working more closely with Kirsty Muddle, one of the founders of the business. She is intimidatingly smart and a striking example of what strong, female leadership looks like in a modern agency.”
Gordhan was a senior copywriter at the agency for just over two years.
Prior to joining Cummins&Partners Gordhan was a copywriter at TBWA.
“Upon hearing of our promotion, Mandie patted me on the back then said, ‘now, let’s get back to work.’ It sums up our approach to the role. It’s a great honour to be recognised but the real reward is not the position itself. It’ll be succeeding in it by making excellent work that works for our clients, and challenges our industry,” Gordhan said in a statement.
Sean Cummins, founding partner of Cummins&Partners, said: “The creative scene in Australia has been a bit one note for too long and there is a bigger and more diverse world that exists beyond the watering holes of Sydney’s adland.
“There has been recent excitement about agency sell-outs… but the true shift in advertising doesn’t happen because a consultancy buys a hot shop. It happens person-by-person, brief-by-brief, day-by-day. Avish and Mandie are exquisite thinkers, insightful outsiders and real people.”
Cummins&Partners’ clients include T2, HBF, AFL, Jeep and CSR.
Abigail Dawson was Mumbrella's senior content journalist covering event content. She left Mumbrella to move into an agency role in 2020.
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This is exciting news. Avish and Mandie are outstanding. Great to see fresh people assume the big roles. I am positive this is great for a great independent agency!
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This is kind of whack.
People have been promoted. But the headline reads people have exited.
All this article says to me is there must be a talented bunch of people at Cummins to have them poached so fervently. It makes me want to work there! Not sure the journalism here as got it right.
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Instead of celebrating a wonderful story about the increasing power of diversity in creative leadership ranks..this article talks about two middle aged white guys. And we wonder. Mumbrella..fail. Cummins..bravo
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Are the commenters above mildly serious? The creative leaders and business partners of an office have resigned to take up roles a (presumably) more appealing agency. It’s nothing to do with diversity or skin colour, and all to do with talent loss…
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Wonder what’s causing the flight of talent?
And how they maintain the work without replacing them?
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@Bias shame on you for reducing the two departing people in question to “two middle age white guys”. Shame on you for presuming to understand their cultural upbringing, their life experience and their beliefs based on the Pantone swatch you’re holding up to the screen, and your quick search on ancestry.com against their last names.
All four of these people are legends. Two are vegetarian. One is a former sparky. One is short. All of them like scotch.
Please can we leave glib comments aside?
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Yes Mumbrella..same IP address..two different points. Astroturfing…no..i know none of these people personally
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@Observer
None of my comments are glib or out of step with any prevailing attitudes written and spoken about on this and other sites. Stop being a patronising asshole.
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Put it this way, these won’t be the last departures from the good ship C&P. Word on the street is they’re actually for sale, so any position they don’t replace looks better on the spreadsheets. Stay tuned.
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Trying to cover your ECD’s leaving by pr’ing the promotion of two CD’s is deluded. Getting caught astroturfing it….
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Dear Bias,
Please chill the eff out.
The agency is clutching at the diversity story for PR spin. Desperately trying to turn another exit into a good news story for their own appearance. This is not s story about diversity. And those two “middle-age white guys” you describe… please explain to us all how their worth and talent is diminished because of their age and skin colour? Ageism is a massive problem in Australian Adland, but you think it’s cool to bash two guys cos you perceive their age as relevant to their value? And you think the two white people that were promoted in their place represent some entirely unique and unprecedented perspective? Or are we just making assumptions based on the colour of their skin?
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I wonder if potential buyer will enquirer as to why many people are choosing to leave?
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Anyway…. I’m looking forward to doing good stuff with you too Mandie.
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Pity our industry likes to bring people down. This story could have been all about the promotions, the wins, the work. The teams that leave for ambition is about their own maturiity and desire to be independent and not always a sign of things being broken.
Many of us can’t do the big machine thing any more. Cummins and Partners growth is moving into the big game now and change is inevitable. We should be celebrating this as an industry.
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