2013 – The most dramatic moments of the year

Mumbrella

December 27, 2013 9:00

1. James Warburton gets sacked

In February James Warburton became the second Ten Network CEO in a row to be sacked by the company’s board. The sacking came after Warburton had been in the role a little more than a year, a post he had endured a lengthy legal battle to obtain and a waiting period of several months before he could start the gig, by ruling of the courts. He was replaced by adman Hamish McLennan who previously worked for News Corp as well as Y&R Brands in Australia and the US. His appointment has seen the Ten Network change tack pushing for an older demographic as it struggles to retain market share.

2. Kyle and Jackie O leave 2DayFM

In early November the hosts of one of the most controversial radio programs in Australian radio history Kyle Sandilands and Jackie Henderson announced they would be leaving 2DayFM. The duo are in ongoing talks to defect to the Australian Radio Network’s MixFM with the station expected to rebrand and change names to Kiis. The move has seen Southern Cross Austereo loses $130m off its share price.

3. Kim Williams sacked

News Corp Australia boss Kim Williams’ departure from the company after just 20 months shocked the industry. Williams exit was blamed on two key factors: a tin ear for the ever present internal politics at News and a major collapse in newspaper revenues of more than 22 per cent. He was replaced by former News executive and Murdoch loyalist Julian Clarke.

4. Publicis Omnicom merger

The global agency landscape received a shake up when holding groups Omnicom and Publicis announced in July they would merge in a move that sees Australia’s third and fourth biggest media buying points become the largest. Omnicom’s media agencies OMD and PHD have an estimated client spend of nearly $1.5bn, while Publicis Group’s Starcom and ZO boast accounts in the vicinity of $1.3bn. The combined spend would put the new entity ahead of WPP’s GroupM agencies of Mediacom, Mindshare, MEC and Maxus which together have an estimated spend of about $2bn.

5. Ikon sacks Dan Johns and senior leadership

Within the agency world the sudden overnight departure of Ikon Communications boss Dan Johns had everyone talking. The storm grew bigger as much of Ikon’s senior leadership – Ellie Rogers, Leonie Kerley and Bevan Davies – announced they were also leaving the media agency. In the weeks that followed there was much speculation about the reasons for the ousting of Johns and the future of the once proud media agency before he was replaced by Mindshare’s James Greet.

6. Ferrier moves to Cummins Ross

It hasn’t been a great year for Naked Communications. In September Adam Ferrier, the last remaining founder of the agenda-setting strategy agency quit the company only to announce that he was moving to rival Cummins Ross. Ferrier co-founded the business in 2008 with Mat Baxter, who departed in 2009, and Mike Wilson who also left the firm this year.

7. Patrick from Offspring dies

The sudden death of anaesthetist Patrick Reid, the handsome partner of Nina Proudman on the Channel 10 drama Offspring shocked the nation and sent Australian women into a spin. The decision to kill off one of the show’s most popular characters on sparked outrage and a social media storm as viewers mourned with Asher Keddie’s pregnant character Nina in the show.