Who are Sydney’s media and marketing catalysts?
So here’s a challenge that I thought would be quite easy when I was asked, but turns out to be harder than you’d think.
You may have vaguely heard of Creative Sydney. It’s part of the organisation that’s bringing Brian Eno to the city – even if Nathan Rees did embarrass himself by claiming this was a bigger coup than Victoria getting Tiger Woods.
But as part of their festival of ideas, they’re looking to draw up a list of the city’s 100 “creative catalysts”.
They say this: “We see a Creative Catalyst to be someone that has initiated something new and uniquely original within their creative field, and has thus made an interesting and inspiring creative contribution to the city. A Creative Catalyst isn’t deemed so by the nature of their job title or position, but rather they themselves have made a valuable contribution by virtue of their talent and achievement and – through this – have supported or inspired others to create new work.”
Unlike the 2020 conference, the media and marketing world is considered to be creative in this case, and they’ve asked me to throw in a few suggestions for their 100. So although I’m going to come up with a few, let me also throw it out there – who would you put forward as meeting that criteria? The closing date is this Friday.
I’ve tried to pick only one person from each area. In no particular order, the names that occur to me from our world:
- For TV, Andrew Denton. Not just for his front-of-camera contributions such as Enough Rope, but his hand in the likes of The Chaser, The Gruen Transfer, and now Project Next.
- If I were to pick just one Sydney-based advertising creative director, I’d go for Warren Brown ECD of BMF. Again, not just because of his own work, but in helping build a creative factory that consistently pumps out professional, exciting advertising. And if I were to associate that with one piece of work, it would be Sam Kekovich’s annual Australia Day address on behalf of Meat & Livestock Australia.
- If it’s possible for newspapers to be creative – and I think it is – then the man who ultimately holds the most influential role in championing the country’s journalism is News Ltd’s John Hartigan. He deserves recognition for his part in the Right To Know campaign as much as anything else. (And yes, I realise it’s not the best week to be making that argument with the Hanson photos controversy still rumbling.)
- For design, it’s easy. Vince Frost. I worked with him on the redesign of B&T. His reputation beforehand was that he was utterly brilliant, but hard work. Both bits are true.
- Potentially more controversially, if a catalyst has a role as provocateur, then let’s add Mat Baxter into the mix. He was the boss of Naked Communications at the time of their girl with the jacket fake video furore. Loved by most of his staff and hated by many of his competitors, his temporary absence from the scene leaves a hole.
- Depressingly, although I can think of clever individuals within traditional media agency circles, I can’t think of one who could yet claim to be making a difference.
- Speaking of making a difference, Australia’s most brilliant adman is David Droga. He’s behind the Tap Project, the Million project and tagging Airforce One. But the organizers of Creative Sydney may feel he’s not eligible because of although he does have a staging post in Droga 5 Sydney and returns regularly, he’s based in New York.
- Another who made a difference, by writing a book that re-inspired a generation of burnt-out middle aged men, then had a major hand in making Earth Hour happen is Nigel Marsh, now running Y&R Brands.
- Another slightly leftfield proposal is Mark Buckman, chief marketing officer of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. Despite his corporate role, he’s been as big a catalyst for Australia’s marketing industry as it’s possible to get. Running a multimillion dollar marketing budget, marshalling a string of agencies and generating new work is hard enough. But he’s shown a willingness to avoid playing it safe and look for fresh thinking – moving channel planning into non-traditional homes, creating controversy by shifting creative work to the US-based Goodby, Silverstein.
- From the digital world, it’s hard to go beyond Chris Winter, the ABC’s interactive powerhouse.
- While on the digital content creation side, someone who has quietly connected with hundreds of thousands of Australians, is YouTube star Natalie Tran.
- And a couple more random thoughts: for provocative writing, blogging and Tweeting, McCann Sydney’s Mark Pollard.
- And because he’s got a big future ahead of him as a marketing trouble-maker, Zac Martin.
I know I’ve missed far more people than I’ve included. Who are your Sydney creative catalysts?
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Zac Martin is definitely disqualified as he comes from bleak city not emerald city.
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Tim, with a write up like that you’re left a small mess in my pants.
Although proudly, I am a Melbourne boy through and through.
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Fuck mate, leave the Naked love at home. A 19 year old intern as one of Sydney’s digital creative catalysts?
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Four comments and not a single positive suggestion. That says it all really.
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I think Amelia Tovey and Jonathan Wald, the guys behind Shoot The Player could get onto the list http://shoottheplayer.com/
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Jonathan Kneebone from The Glue Society. World-class in many mediums.
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To have ACTUALLY “initiated something new and uniquely original within their creative field, and thus made an interesting and inspiring creative contribution to the city” is a huge ask.
And so it should be.
I think we should really try and limit the list to those who meet that ask.
You’ve provided some good names Tim, but as for some of the others, as lovely and interesting as I’m sure they are I really don’t think they make the cut.
I can’t think of many in our combined industries to be honest. Clearly we just have to work harder. There’s a lot of other industries that can fill the list without us.
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Angus, that’s very depressing. I challenge you to come up with at least one living name from within our industry.
We sometimes forget the impact that this industry has on our culture. There are people pulling those levers. Surely it’s just a question of working out who they are…
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
Sorry Tim. I hate to be depressing.
I certainly don’t under estimate the impact our industry has on culture, I’m just struggling to think of people who’ve made real impact of late, with effect outside our bubble.
Droga would be my pick. I hope he can be included. And with regard to Earth Hour, I wonder if it’s Greg Bourne who should be included in this particular case – not sure.
I also liked your mention of Denton, Hartigan and Tran.
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jon wall and ming gan from fuzzy – i guess that’s not media/advertising tho
“New and uniquely original” is what’s required here.
An ECD doing category-changing work, or making beautiful short films does little to affect a given city creatively I’d say. Do such things equate to “an inspiring and interesting contribution to the city” as the criterea demands?
As for shoottheplayer, suggested above. Hmmmm.
Rip off of a UK thing, which is very similar indeed to a French thing before it. Not unique at all.
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I would heartily endorse your nomination of Mark Buckman.
Some will likely say that, because he is my client, my endorsement is biased and self-serving. But I hope the less cynical out there will appreciate that my endorsement is based on having observed the man up close and in action.
I think it’s a generally accepted rule in style guides that the words “creativity” and “bank” can never be used in the same sentence. Mark, by bravely assembling such a brilliant roster of highly creative agencies and challenging them to do breakthrough work, has singlehandedly made that rule obsolete.
And given how large a presence his bank has on the streets of Sydney and how big a role it plays in the daily lives of so many of Sydney’s residents, Mark’s leading CBA to more creative communications does I believe help create a more hospitable overall environment for creativity in Sydney.
And, by the way, Warren Brown is a damned fine choice also.
Cheers,
Harold Sogard, Vice Chairman
Goodby, Silverstein & Partners
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Droga is a great ‘ad guy’ bending the rules for self-promotion but what brands has he built over the years?
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Where’s Sydney? Is it just outside Gosford?
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What about the cabanaboys. they seem to fit the bill somewhere in here, they serve a mean cocktail.
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I love Natalie, she is a true home grown star. I didn’t see any PR companies on there Tim and of course would like to self-promote Zing as creative catalyst in online pr. There are others out there doing online pr and it would be nice for pr to be recognised for its creativity also.
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Harold your comment is so funny. Nice one.
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