Writers Ltd, an established copywriting company based in Bristol, UK, has opened its first overseas office, in Sydney.
Challenging the current conventions of ever-narrowing niche marketing, Writers’ work spans virtually every industry sector and almost every medium - from phrases embossed on chocolate bars to lengthy annual reports.
 â€œPeople are often surprised when they ask me what we specialise in, and I say writing," explains Sara Howard, who runs the new Sydney office. “They are used to freelance writers who work only in one specific medium, or who can just produce short copy. But with six full-time in house writers and a tried-and-tested pool of freelancers, we offer a range of different writing skills and experience."
A team approach means Writers is also able to meet tight deadlines. “We are almost always available," says Sara. “Design agencies, and their clients, often have a sporadic need for a writer, but never really know until the last minute. Good freelance writers are usually booked up well in advance. However, we have a large talent base and can cover two time zones to get the work done."
It’s a concept that has worked for the Writers UK team for over seven years. Their credentials read like a roll-call of blue chip companies – Vodafone, KPMG, HSBC, Fujitsu, and retail giants Tesco and the Dixons Stores Group, to name just a few. The writers work together as a team on many projects, which allows wide creative input for each brief. It also enables large-scale projects, such as newsletters, to be completed by an in-house, project-managed team.
Writers UK Managing Director, Richard Owsley, says, “We’re excited by the opportunities in Australia, having already worked on a few projects there before deciding to set up in Sydney. The cultural and creative similarities make it a relevant and logical place to expand."
For more information on the services that Writers Australia provides, call Sara Howard on 0422 903 317 or visit www.writers.net.au

Top direct marketing creative Chris Hunter is moving from Auckland to Sydney to become Rivet’s new Executive Creative Director for Australia and New Zealand.
Hunter has several major awards to his name, included the coveted International Gold Echo. He wrote the world’s first modern-era live TV campaign, which broadcast live stunts to the whole of New Zealand during the first season of the TV show 24.
He brings to the Sydney office nearly 20 years’ experience, having started out as a copywriter on the London Daily Mail before joining FCA, Campaign magazine’s Direct Marketing Agency of the Year. More recently, he was the founding CD of Draft in Auckland — and for the past year, has been also been looking after the New Zealand office of Lowe.
Says Rivet Sydney’s CEO, Judi Lewis: “Chris is one of the most passionate and creative marketers you could ever meet — in just a couple of years, he helped to turn Draft’s Auckland office into one of the most successful agencies in the huge global network. He’s open-minded, realistic, and understands what clients need."
The challenging nature of the Australian market is one attraction for Hunter: “Another is the chance to work again with Judi and Tom Markham, who used to be our Interactive CD in Auckland. The pieces are fitting into place in the Sydney office and I decided I wanted to be a part of that."
Hunter is a regular at awards judging, having done stints at the John Caples in New York, AWARD in Australia, and Axis and the RSVPs in New Zealand. His recent award credits include multiple Golds from the NZ Marketing Association, several Silvers from the international Caples and Echos, and bronzes from the NZ Effies and AWARD. He is also the author of Vantastic, a Kiwi bestseller about caravan culture.
He assumes his post from 1st December and will be working across all of the agency’s clients.

BMF Sydney continues to add multi-dimensional creatives to the department with the hiring of Cleve Cameron.  As founder of innovate media group Spungo in the late nineties, writer and filmmaker, Cleve Cameron is a multimedia storyteller with advertising experience including Saatchi’s Wellington and recently, Naked in Sydney.
Says BMF creative director, Simon Langley: “What’s exciting about Cleve is his non-traditional approach to his work, and his interests outside advertising.  The way we work at BMF means he’ll fit in perfectly, and have the opportunities to apply his talents to our growing list of clients who are looking to do things differentlyâ€?.
Lately Cleve has been developing a number of entertainment projects.  The foremost being BEOP – a band from the future based on a book he wrote.  The band is currently recording for an upcoming release, and he is also working with @radical.media to create a pilot for a series of the band’s “special transmissionsâ€?.
Says Cameron: “The opportunity at BMF is an exciting one.  I really like their approach and the kind of integrated work they have been doing.  My brief is to continue doing the things I enjoy and apply it to their clients, so you can’t ask for more than that.â€?
Cameron will be working with awarded creatives Richard Morgan and Paul Bruce in a new triangular approach to projects, and will work with other people or on his own when the need arises.

AWARD want you to have the best possible night tomorrow, here are some tips to help you achieve it!

DO NOT FORGET YOUR DOOR PASS, security will be very strict on the evening. No Door Pass, No Entry.

Please arrive on time, at 6.30pm sharp for pre-presentation drinks

Doors to the presentation will CLOSE at 7.20pm

FINALISTS  - please try and sit close to the stage or at the end of an aisle in case of trophy collection

Bronze trophies will be there for collection on the night, after the presentation, in the foyer
 
Driving? There is very limited parking at Carriageworks, otherwise street parking

Buses will depart the venue at two separate times, to transport to the After-Party, Taxis will also be called

All guests to receive wrist bands at the AWARD Awards for entry into the After-Party, the bar is kindly sponsored for some time by The Sweet Shop so is for AWARD Night guests only.

 
Supersonic have now settled in to their new music and sound design facility in Potts Point and to kick things off have collaborated with Resolution Design to create an animated, house warming show piece.  Animator Mary Benn enabled Supersonic composers and sound designer Brenda Woithe to visualise the creative process of music growing and evolving, from a basic sound wave to a full bodied track. This deconstructed journey takes us around the three-storey manor house, passing through composers, musicians and sound engineers as the compositon evolves. Influenced by endearing posters in Supersonic's foyer of outlined figures playing photographic instruments, Resolution decided to shoot live action footage and hand trace Supersonic's musicians. Supersonic’s red door is now officially open.

www.super-sonic.com.au/newspace/

Saatchi & Saatchi NZ executive creative director Mike O’Sullivan has announced four new creatives hires for the agency, including Luke Chess (pictured), who joins as a Group Creative Head working with fellow Aussie expat Stephen de Wolf. Chess spent 2007 as creative director at BWM Sydney and the eight years prior were spent at Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney. His awards successes include One Show, ADMA, D&AD, Caxtons, AWARD and Australia’s first ever Cannes Direct Lion and Cannes Radio Lion. In 2006 he added a Cannes Gold in Outdoor to the list.
Chess told CB: "Saatchi's NZ is the hottest shop in the region right now, and in fact has been for the last couple of years. And Mike O has built a team of folk who are both shit hot creatively and also really good people to work with. Who wouldn't want to be a part of that?"
Another Aussie pair, Robbie Brammall and Ant Hatton, also join the agency, hired from George Patterson Y&R Melbourne, where they have been working for the last 5 months. Prior to that they had four years at Clemenger BBDO Sydney. Their award haul so far includes metal at Cannes, Clios, Caxtons, New York festival and AWARD.
Aaron Dustin joins as creative director - digital. Dustin leaves his own successful Wellington digital agency, Timebased, to lead Saatchi Digital and Direct. His digital creative skills have been recognised both locally and internationally – not least of which by his impressive client list that includes many of the country’s most innovative and successful digital marketers. Dustin replaces Adam Oliveira who is returning to his native Canada next year.
All four will start at the agency on 14 Jan.

Jamie Huber and Audius - the creative producers behind such artists as Delta Goodrem, Ricki-Lee, and Paulini have launched a brand new sound design division to their already existing studios, Blindfaith Music + Sound.
This division has been specifically designed to cater for the Advertising, Film, TV and multi media industries.
With an impressive history of hits already under their belts, a growing reputation as one of the most creative sound production companies in Australia and the latest state of the art technology, they are sure to carve a niche in the Sydney market. Their current back catalogue of past hits is very impressive and any creative director would benefit from this vast collection. In a short space of time they have already built an impressive list of clients.
Contact- Peter Kirk – Creative Director  on (02) 9712 1906 or 0451 888 888
peter@blindfaithonline.com 

The team of Paul Taylor and the two Jason’s (Kilgour and Rose) - pictured left top - from consultancy group day&age were the annual winners of The Pound’s lawn bowling competition, held on Friday in Melbourne.
There was some controversy in the semi final between Publicis Mojo and Patts as to who actually bowled the winning brown ball, with GPY&R's Frank Muller’s powers of persuasion winning out (combined with the fact that there was no video referee to check the validity of Mojo’s claim).
A beautiful Melbourne afternoon and evening was enjoyed by all in what is becoming one of the most enjoyable parties of the Christmas season. 

Dear CB,

It's happened. After eleven and a half years we have a change of government in Canberra!
I could have written a thought piece for you outlining how SPAA will respond to the new challenge but our industry colleague at Screenhub - David Tiley, has covered it all in fine style in this article from yesterday's edition.
With Screenhub's kind permission we re-print the article here for SPAA members.

Regards

Geoff Brown
Executive Director



The Election: what's next? Is that a honey jar? An angry bear in the way?

by: David Tiley
Screen Hub
Monday 26 November, 2007

With the tears and cheers over, the screen industry wakes to the reality of a new government, and a rejigged agenda with some new possibilities. For both the screen and IT sectors, it is a matter of new weapons, and new battlegrounds.
By Monday morning, SPAA was plotting its new direction. Elsewhere, the broadband activists had the emails out to call for a radical rethink in digital policy.
As SPAA's Geoff Brown said, "I'm glad we rang Peter Garrett's office on Friday to wish him well." He has indicated to Rudd that SPAA would like to keep him, to provide continuity. The big ticket television issues belonged to Stephen Conroy, the political tough who hounded the ABC and SBS relentlessly in the Senate Budget Committee, as we reported in detail.
Conroy certainly has the stature, and communications is a defining policy zone for the ALP. Rudd is expected to announce the full lineup by Thursday.
The Writers' Guild is also wondering about the new ministry, though it is expecting, in Stephen Asher's words, "a far more engaged and interested arts minister." Both the AWG and the DGA has a good relationship with Peter Garrett, though he could end up with the environment portfolio divided off from arts. If so, Bob Debus is a possible minister, who has impressed the AWG when he held that portfolio in the NSW state government. [editor: but.. but.. NSW FTO, pots of money, lack of..]
Since the producers' offset received bipartisan support, the industry expects the legislation to roll through parliament. But SPAA will agitate about some technical changes - particularly to allow the offset to be acquitted in the year in which the budget items were expended, as in the UK system. It will have to be paid on a provisional basis, whch would make the initial certification more significant and add a nightmare edge to final acquittal.
As expected, SPAA will be pushing to get the ALP to honour its promises about the ABC as a first term objective; although the party never committed to increasing the budget significantly, the new legislation will require an extra fifty million to implement. There are similar issues about SBS, with the added frisson of ALP hostility to advertising.
SPAA also expects to revisit the Free Trade Agreement with the US, a treaty which the ALP detested at the time. There may be enough wiggle room to get some content regulations on digital FTA channels. Even within the current limits, the government can ensure that Pay TV is committed to maximum amount of regulated Australian content.
All this is business as usual for the industry's activists. But there is a rabbit waiting in the hat with a most enticing pair of ears, and Brown has dusted off his magician's hat and cane.
ACMA, the communications regulator, is trapped inside Senator Helen Coonan's determination to deregulate. That hard-line philosophical commitment is bound to change. SPAA wants to see ACMA given the power to determine quotas for independent production with the broadcasters, and to arbitrate on terms of trade.
Here, it would resemble Ofcom, the British regulator, where a similar system is credited with empowering UK companies to sell formats and programs to all the major broadcasters, as a platform to create independent markets.
Although this has been SPAA policy for the last three years, it has been politically impossible until now.
Paul Budde, the indefatigable broadband analyst and campaigner is optimistic about the FttN (fibre to the node) plan from Labor, which he claims involves "some $5 billion worth of direct or indirect government spending". The sector will hit the new government in the next month with a new industry vision formulated in the last month before the election. It will include "ideas and suggestions for an infrastructure that supports e-health applications (video monitoring of patients, elderly people, remote diagnostics); smart grid (linking the electricity network to broadband, allowing utilities and their customers to save energy); and tele-education - as well as e-entertainment, of course. But if Telstra doesn't co-operate, he fears as knock-down drag-out fight through the courts which could take three years.
Meanwhile, Marty Gauvin, the CEO of Hostworks, an important supplier of IT and systems services to business, has circulated an email which is critically important to the screen sector. He points out that FttN improvements will only clog the system further and the real issue occurs between exchanges. Without sufficient bandwidth, we will have gridlock.
For general domestic users, the problem will gradually slow the system down. We already have the most websites per person in the world, but that will continue to translate into "most frustrated users per capita" in the world.
Enterprises which own dedicated bandwidth, which includes our major post-production businesses, are safe - but only for the moment. Try and buy a ten gig link in the market, and you are likely to find it is simply not there to trade.
For digital experts like John Harris, from Impress Media, this means we can't become "a net data exporter". The data he is talking about is the programs we make, downloaded as video or run ultimately as IPTV.
As far as Gauvin is concerned, this means we can't "really begin to engage in the global online economy."
"The new government has an opportunity here to demonstrate real leadership. While the bulk of what online consumers want is overseas, Australia will continue to be diminished in its ability to have a content industry based here."

UPDATE: we have heard a completely unsubstantiated and dark rumour that the ALP is very unhappy with DCITA. Its new masters may subject it to a great deal of bureaucratic stress, which it may not survive.

David Tiley

David Tiley is the editor of Screenhub, and can be contacted at:
editor@screenhub.com.au. or 03 9690 6131.  

Editor Richard Learoyd has returned to Sydney after five years in the US.
He moved to the States to edit I Robot with director Alex Proyas. Originally the film was to be shot and edited in Sydney but circumstances took the project and Leayroyd to LA. After such a long period on a film, particularly one as technically complex as I Robot, he was ready to jump back into commercials editing. He joined The Whitehouse based in LA and has worked on many major campaigns including UPS, Mercedes, Nissan, Land Rover, BMW and Allstate. His most recent job was for Range Rover with Tarsem @Radical Media.
His other feature credits include Garage Days and Jet Li’s Fearless which was nominated for Best Editing at the 2007 Hong Kong Film Awards and he has just finished Alex Proyas's Director's cut of Dark City, whch is due for release in the new year.
His reputation now firmly entrenched, Learoyd has decided to return home with his family and has a strong commitment to working in Sydney.
The Tait Gallery’s managing director and chief editor Danny Tait acknowledges Learoyd’s talent: "We are all really delighted Richard has chosen to base himself here. I have always followed and greatly admired Richard’s work over the years and we seem to share some ideas about the evolving business and about our commitment to the work. We are both looking forward to a very happy and productive working relationship."
In addition to Learoyd, The Tait Gallery also represents editor Mark Alchin who has returned to Sydney after 20 years in London. Mark’s reputation for music video’s is second to none, with a list of credits that include artists from The Rolling Stones to Amy Winehouse as well as commercials for Ford, Smirnoff, Barclaycard, Volkswagen, BT, Uncle Bens and Sony and more recently campaigns for Dolmio, Brother printers and McDonalds.
Both can be contacted through The Tait Gallery on 9552 2600.

Following months of speculation, Droga5 Australia, the first overseas office of Droga5 New York, finally confirms its arrival with the announcement of a new management team.
David 'Nobby' Nobay, takes up the helm as Creative Chairman of Droga5 Australia alongside partners Sudeep Gohil, who joins as Planning Director and Marianne Bess, who will be Managing Director.
Before resigning in October, Nobay was Executive Creative Director of Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney. Under his watch, the agency was named  CB Australian Agency of the Year an unprecedented three times in as many years. In 2007 he was also ranked No1 most awarded Creative Director in the Australasia region in the CB Creative Rankings.
Meanwhile, Gohil has gained his formidable reputation abroad. Previously he was Worldwide Planning Director of Weiden & Kennedy, Portland, responsible for global strategy for Nike and P&G. Prior to his role there, he was Planning Director on the European Levis account through Bartle Bogle Hegarty in London. He also was part of the launch team for BBH Japan.
Marianne Bess comes with a client business pedigree second to none. Living in LA, she was responsible for leading the Toyota business for North America (the automotive leader’s largest market outside Japan) at Saatchi & Saatchi. In 2003, she moved to Sydney to work alongside Nobay and, then, CEO Jim O'Mahony. For the last 4 months she has been working as Strategic Consultant within Toyota Australia.
All three partners will hold equity in the new venture, alongside Worldwide Creative Chairman and Founder, David Droga and his New York-based company. In addition, Nobay will become a board member of Droga5 in the US.
David Droga is perhaps Australia's most successful advertising exports. With over 50 Cannes Lions to his name, he is the single most awarded Creative Director in the world.
Before founding Droga5 in New York last year, he had been the first Worldwide Chief Creative Officer for the Publicis Network, as well as Executive Creative Director of Saatchi London and Regional Creative Director for Saatchi Asia. Before leaving Australia 11 years ago, he was a partner and Creative Director of OMON.
Although it has only been 20 months since Droga5 opened its doors in the US, it is already considered one of the hottest advertising and communications companies in the world. Its clients include, Microsoft, ESPN, Ecko, Diageo, UNICEF, Maxjet, Tracfone and Rhapsody.
And while Droga5 is a 100% independently owned company, last year it created a joint venture with the giant French communications company, The Publicis Groupe.  Together they launched a groundbreaking broadband  retail and entertainment  channel, HoneyShed. After a year in development, HoneyShed.com launched its beta site three weeks ago.
David Droga (at left with Nobby at a CB Lunch last year) says the idea of a Sydney-based office to extend his brand was always on the cards: “As a fiercely proud Aussie, it was always my intention to launch an office back home. While the idea of 'a start-up doing a start-up' sounds somewhat unusual, I  have always believed you have to build around talent. Nobby was always my first and only choice.  Like me, he’s as passionate about the clients' business as he is in the idea’s ultimate execution.  And when you include the talents of  Sudeep and Marianne in the mix, well, I feel like the stars have aligned for us in Sydney."
According to Droga, the time has never been better for his style of creative company: “Our business is at a crossroad. And like never before, it needs  creative leaders who value business and business leaders with a genuine passion for relevant creativity. We are not just in the business of creativity  but rather creative ideas that create positive momentum for brands."
According to Nobay, the agency is already busy talking to potential clients and adding staff to its numbers: “Frankly, our biggest concern isn’t growth for the sake of it, it is being able to partner with clients with shared ambitions and the capacity to live up to our collective potentials. For that, we were willing to wait, but I’m already amazed at the response we’ve had, especially as we haven't officially publicised our intentions. The work over the next six months is what will define us, not agency rhetoric, so I’ll say no more for now, other than, for all the pressure we’re now under, it was self inflicted and more fun than even I had predicted."
Only this week, Droga5 Australia added the first creative team to its ranks by securing the talents of Ben Smith and Neil McGuirk (pictured left), one of Lowe Hunt Sydney’s hottest teams and winners of the Global Yahoo ThinkTank Project. The agency will secure a permanent address in January, and announce additional senior hires.

An ad for RACV car loans for RACV Financial Services has won the overall and single categories for round three of the 2008 Siren Awards. The spot, called ‘Disclaimer’, was written by Paul Reardon and Julian Schreiber from Clemenger BBDO, Melbourne, and uses humour to promote a financial product.

“It was purely circumstance, to do an ad for an RACV car loan, which unfortunately required almost 30 seconds of legal disclaimers, so it made sense for us to make such an overwhelming element of the ad the idea," says Paul Reardon. “Also disclaimers are a challenge every creative who writes radio has to face. How do we make them fit in and not sound like they’re undoing all the impact the ad had before all the legal jargon kicks in. It was great to write an ad where the ad and disclaimer literally had a fight.
“It was just good to find an entertaining solution. By making the disclaimer the idea, what was a big negative, became a great vehicle to carry a retail message," he said.
One of the judges and winner of the previous Sirens round, Connor Beaver from Grey, Melbourne said about the winning ad: “The RACV ‘Disclaimer’ spot stood out for us as a simple idea executed really well. It was obvious that the creatives received a brief with pages and pages of mandatory disclaimers, the fact they could embrace this and turn it into a damn funny ad is worth applauding."
There was one highly commended entry in the single category. Flower Growers of Victoria ‘I’m Sorry’, written by Sabina Schaare and Kirsti Lewis from Grey Worldwide, Melbourne. This ad was also part of a campaign which won highly commended in the campaign category [‘I Fancy You’, ‘I’m Sorry’ and ‘I Miss You’] along with an ad called ‘Beer First’ for J Boag & Son, written by Joshua Stephens from AJF Partnership, Melbourne.
Winner of the campaign category was ‘Buses’ for Metlink, written by Dan Forrestal, Frank Trobbiani and Neil Mallet from Marmalade Communications, Melbourne and submitted by production studio, gasinc, which features witty songs about Melbourne’s buses.
Winner of the craft category was ‘Snore’ for the Indooroopilly Shopping Centre, produced by Ross Batten from Cutting Edge with creative director, Kelly Denning from agency, Make.
Judge and previous winner, Jo Campbell from ARN said: “The obvious winner was ‘Snore’. This is a cleverly crafted, effective ad that really pulls the listener in close. A great example of how sound effects and acoustics can enrich the audio experience!"
Highly commended in the craft category was an ad called ‘Police Radio’ for Working Against Culpable Driving (WACD).  Sound engineer was Paul Taylor from Sound Reservoir, sound director was Ralph van Dijk from Eardrum and creative director was Luke Chess from BWM Sydney.
The national Siren Awards are run by Commercial Radio Australia and are designed to recognise the best radio advertising in the country. The awards promote the importance of creativity as a way to make radio advertising more effective. Entries for round 4 are now open and close on 11 January next year.
For more information visit the dedicated website:
www.sirenawards.com.au

The AFA AdSchool Award Night will be held on Monday, December 3 at Customs House in Circular Quay. All are invited to a very special celebration evening. Be among the first to hear about some exciting news for the future of AdSchool – something that will change the face of the school for years to come.

When:  Monday 3 December 2007, 6 - 9pm
Where: Customs House - The Barnet Longroom, Bridge Street Circular Quay
How much: $30 incl. GST students or $45 incl. GST AdSchool friends

Program:
6 - 6.45pm drinks & canapes
6.45 - 7.30pm Official Announcement & Graduation Ceremony
7.30 - 9 pm drinks, canapes & live music by Arrebato – Contemporary Flamenco Ensemble

Gavin McLeod, Creative Director at Mark, Sydney has been named president of ADFEST 2008's Direct Lotus Jury. McLeod, who has over 11 years of direct marketing experience, is also currently an executive committee member of both AWARD and the Australian Direct Marketing Association.
Says McLeod: “In the past few years, Asia, including Australia and New Zealand, has built an enviable reputation for delivering truly outstanding direct creative work. It is a huge honour to be selected as the Chairman of the Direct jury."
McLeod said what he has really noticed in the last few shows he has judged is the lack of attention to the actual entry. “People are spending all the time and energy creating great work and then entering the work in the most unbelievably sloppy manner. My advice is to really take the time to put a great entry together. Direct work is often in response to quite complicated briefs and requires a degree of explanation. An entry that looks great and does a fantastic job at explaining why the work is brilliant will really stand out."
McLeod joined M&C Saatchi in 2000. He has played an influential role in building the direct creative department into a world-class offering. Under his stewardship, M&C Saatchi Direct was last year recognised by the Won Report as the second best direct creative agency in the world. He has been heavily involved in the setting up of Mark, which was created when the M&C Saatchi Digital and Direct departments merged at the beginning of 2007. He sits on the management group of Mark.
He has won Best Creative at both the New Zealand Direct Marketing Awards and, twice, at the Australian Direct Marketing Association Awards. He has won a Cannes Lion every year for the past five years and has won over 15 Caples Awards in his career. In 2002, one of his DM campaigns was the most awarded piece in Australia.
ADFEST 2008 will be held from March 26 to 29, in Peach Conventional Exhibition Centre, Pattaya, Thailand.

CB hears Australia's Craig Davis, worldwide creative director of JWT, is set to be named as the Cannes TV and Press Jury president for 2008. Undoubtedly a career highlight, Davis will be following in the wake of Aussies Bob Isherwood, worldwide CD of Saatchi's, who was president in 2001 and Droga5's Dave Droga, who got the gig in 2006. There could be an announcement as early as this week.
Davis is pictured here at CB's Colombe d'Or Lunch in Cannes this year with Simone Bartley, CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi Australia.

Top Melbourne producer Richard Hearman has left Renegade to team up with Sydney production company Republic Films. He will represent the Republic team of directors in Melbourne including their major new signing from LA - Richard D'Alessio.
Says Hearman: "I really enjoyed my time at Renegade, but I needed a new challenge and building the Republic brand in Melbourne was just what I was looking for.  They’ve got a great roster of directors who do outstanding work and I can't wait to get out there with their reels."
E.P, Adam Wells said today: “Richard has built an incredible wealth of experience as both a producer and a director over the last 20 years and has worked for all the major clients and agencies. We see him as a major asset to our team and having a local presence of his calibre will ensure Melbourne agencies can choose Republic directors with the knowledge that they will be well looked after.
Contact Richard on 0412 122 807 to find out what he’s so excited about.

Men’s Group, the debut feature film from Luscious International Director,
Michael Joy, has taken home the Grand Prize at the Digi SPAA Awards, held
on the Gold Coast.
“It’s an enormous honour to have been recognised by Digi SPAA, and to
have been nominated among digital films of such high calibre," said Joy. 
Men’s Group deals with the question of what it is to be a man: a husband, a father, a son, and a lover. Seven men from very different backgrounds meet each week to laugh, cry, have it out and come to terms with the issues in their lives. 
The future is looking very bright for Joy, who is currently completing the final phase of Aurora 2007, the FTO’s prestigious script development workshop.
Men’s Group is set for release in 2008. For more information, go to www.mensgroupthemovie.com. 

Howard Collinge is joining JWT New York as creative director on JetBlue, reporting to JWT New York chief creative officer Ty Montague.  Most recently at Lowe Hunt, Sydney, he is one of the creatives behind the award winning LynxJet campaign, which won nine Lions at Cannes in 2006 and is currently ranked equal first creative on Campaign Brief’s 2007 Creative Rankings.
Having left the agency at the end of last year Collinge has spent most of this year working on his first feature film script, which he is currently shopping around to major Hollywood studios and branded content divisions of agencies.
Prior to his 18 months at Lowe Hunt he did a short stint as creative group head at Bates Asia where he created the notorious Nokia ‘Swinging Cat’ viral (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxwHqHKsNVo&feature=related) where a cat gets caught up in a ceiling fan and is flung around the room. "One of the first big viral campaigns, it was forwarded on by over a million people within its first week and was ranked number six in the World's Best Virals for 2003 by the UK advertising magazine Campaign." Before Bates, Collinge spent five years at BBH, working in Singapore for three years, before relocating to the London office. Here he worked on campaigns for clients including Levi’s, Audi and Johnnie Walker.
Starting his new gig next week, Collinge says he was attracted to the job because of the challenge that comes with being part of an agency in turnaround mode.
Montague hiring great talent including Kash Sree from BBH New York and Andy Clarke from Saatchi & Saatchi London as executive creative directors helped convince him it was the right move.
“I admire Montague’s vision for the New York office and the fact that he is embracing branded content and other non-traditional approaches. It’s a challenge, but being part of the team that turns a traditional multinational like JWT New York around will be personally very rewarding," says Collinge.

The new look Campaign Brief Blog has been created by the team at Lowe Rivet, Sydney (left). Says Head of Interactive at Lowe Rivet, Mark Ashley-Wilson (second from right): "It's been great fun rebuilding this site. Reading all the comments in a single session wasn't such a great idea, but it was pretty insightful on the people in our business. The new site now clearly represents the Campaign Brief brand and the added functionality make it a much easier tool to use for all visitors. We are really happy with the result."

The team who made it all happen are:
Mark Ashley-Wilson - Head of Interactive AU  NZ
Dave Johnson - Executive Creative Director
Richard de Nys - Executive Producer
Masami Iida - Programmer
Han Lee - Designer

NOTE: If you can't see any photos on the blog, press the refresh or reload button.

OmnilabMedia, Australia/NZ’s largest, privately owned, vertically integrated content development and media service business and Kennedy Miller Mitchell (KMM), the company behind the award winning Happy Feet, Babe and Mad Max movies - today announced their partnership in a significant new digital media company.
Says George Miller (left): “The brave new age of digital film-making is little more than a decade old. It offers extraordinary possibilities for storytellers like us who strive to break new ground with each of our movies. KMM had been looking for a partner to start a new Australian owned and based digital film company for quite a while. I had found it heartbreaking to watch the home-grown talent pool that emerged in Australian cinema go overseas because there was no continuity of high-end work in this country.
KMM’s partnership with Omnilab Media and the Mapp family is our attempt to stop history repeating itself and reverse this Australian ‘brain drain’. We have the perfect union of Omnilab Media’s management, resources and infrastructure with KMM’s creative film making expertise. Omnilab Media have built a very successful business in an uncertain climate and this, together with KMM’s aspiration to achieve the highest level of storytelling, is a great match. We really see this as a strong marriage with a view to making many beautiful children over a long period of time!"
Omnilab Media Managing Director Christopher Mapp (below left) said, “When we first entered into discussions with KMM at the beginning of the year, we were all inspired at the thought of creating a hub of film making excellence here in Australia. With a consistent stream of exceptional creative projects coming into this new company, we have made firm investments and commitments to grow and expand the team. I’m pleased to say we have already attracted back some of the best Australian creative talent from around the world."

The new company will be based at Omnilab’s facility in Yurong Street, East Sydney. Commenting on its future potential, KMM’s Doug Mitchell said, “Right from the beginning we made the decision to join forces with the Mapp family and personally invest in this new company to help build and grow the Australian digital film making industry. We have been inspired by the New Zealanders who are leading the way with their comprehensive film making on such works as Lord of the Rings and King Kong, and who are now attracting the world’s top filmmakers."
The new company’s future strategy has been agreed by Omnilab Media, the Mapp family and KMM with Christopher Mapp adding, ““We are continuing to invest in the industry for the long term and this new venture with KMM is a true extension of our passion and drive to grow digital film making in Australia."
With the new company in place and a growing team of top talent, George Miller concluded, “We now have a very real opportunity to build on past successes with a continuous flow of ambitious projects and together, contribute to the future of digital cinema."

Y&R announced today that Tony Granger will join the agency as Worldwide Creative Director.
“Tony Granger has earned his reputation as an industry great — he’s an enormous talent and a passionate leader," said Australian Hamish McLennan, Y&R Global CEO. “I am delighted that he will be my creative partner, and I know this announcement will be universally embraced by our clients and our staff as a key step forward," he added.
Granger comes to Y&R from Saatchi & Saatchi New York, where he has spent the past two years as its Chief Creative Officer and led Saatchi to its ranking as the most awarded agency in the world at last year’s Cannes Advertising Festival. He also served as Executive Creative Director of its London agency. Prior to that, Granger was at Bozell in New York and at Grey and TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris in his native South Africa.
“Putting in a dynamic creative leader tops off everything we have been working towards," stated McLennan. “We have been reinventing our agency model, aggressively extending our digital capabilities, updating our offering with branded content, design as well as other practices like shopper marketing. We need creative excellence on all fronts, and Tony is the ideal person to get us there," he said.
Granger is the most recent addition to the senior management team at Y&R that McLennan continues to build. Earlier this year, McLennan hired Mitch Caplan as Chief Marketing Officer of North America and Tarik Sedky as Chief Digital Officer, and made strategic appointments in the global network, including a new head of China and a regional president for the entire Asia region.
Early last month, Jan Jacobs and Leo Premutico also left Saatchi and are now starting their own shop, Johannes Leonardo - see following story - backed by WPP (CB hears McLennan also played a lead role in that deal).

WORLD EXCLUSIVE: Former Saatchi & Saatchi Executive Creative Directors Jan Jacobs and Leo Premutico, who helped take the agency from creative obscurity to Cannes and Clio ‘Agency of The Year’ in just over two years, have launched their own shop Johannes Leonardo with the backing of WPP.
Jacobs, 37, and Aussie expat Premutico, 29, were recently recognized as the world’s fourth most-awarded creative directors by Creativity magazine. Between them, the duo has won over 30 “Lions" at the International Advertising Festival in Cannes, and many other industry accolades. Since arriving at Saatchi & Saatchi in May 2005, the agency has experienced something of a renaissance with significant new-business success, including JC Penney and Wendy’s International accounts.
In addition to their new-business contributions, Jacobs and Premutico were the major force behind the creative turn-around. Their ‘Stains don’t stand a chance’ work for Tide this year resulted in Procter & Gamble winning its first Cannes “Grand Prix" in many years. Their “Red Wig" campaign for Wendy’s has given that brand a strong voice in the fickle youth market, something that the company has struggled to regain since the passing of its founder and advertising icon Dave Thomas in 2002.
Jacobs and Premutico developed the “Talking Stain" campaign for Tide detergent, establishing a unique point of difference for the Tide to Go brand. Their work lead the Saatchi & Saatchi New York office to become the second most-awarded agency in the world (Creativity’s August 2007).
Premutico and Jacobs have worked as a team since meeting in the London office of Saatchi & Saatchi in 2005. Shortly after that, they collaborated on the moving “Ventriloquist" commercial for the UK’s National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, which in that year was the world’s seventh most-awarded commercial (Campaign magazine ’05).
Together and separately, Jacobs and Premutico have worked in agencies in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, the United Kingdom, continental Europe and the United States. They have also influenced other brands such as BMW, Land Rover, The New York Times, Bank of America, Avis and Olay. Their work has won effectiveness awards on four continents.
Johannes Leonardo will be based in New York.

Leo Burnett Sydney’s Earth Hour initiative for WWF, which won one of four Titanium awards handed out at Cannes last year, has been opened up to Australia’s entire advertising, media and marketing community. As well as the feel-good factor that comes with helping to save the planet, there are four trips to next year’s international advertising festival at Cannes to be won. Campaign Brief will give away two trips to the creative team who demonstrate the most effective and/or inspirational way to leverage Earth Hour 2008 with judging by an international panel of top creatives led by Leo Burnett’s global creative director Mark Tutssel. Fairfax’s The Sydney Morning Herald will award a trip each to the client and agency person behind the best work with the jury to be chaired by Noel Purcell, group general manager, Westpac.
Rolled out in Sydney for the first time this year, Earth Hour 2007 had 2.2 million Sydneysiders turn off their lights for an hour as a stand against global warming, cutting the city’s energy consumption by 10.2%, the equivalent of taking 48,000 cars off the road for one hour. Over 2,200 Sydney based companies took part, including McDonald’s, which switched off its golden arches; Coke, which screened Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth; Energy Australia, which co-sponsored advertisements on metrolites; and Guinness, which gave out free beers at bars.
This year WWF is hoping for universal support from corporate Australia for the event which will take place on March 29 at 8pm. Top agencies including Saatchi & Saatchi, George Patterson Y&R, Clemenger BBDO, JWT, DDB, SO&M, BMF, Host, The Glue Society, Publicis Mojo, BWM, M&C Saatchi, Whybin\TBWA, BWM, Lowe Hunt, Euro RSCG, McCann-Erickson, The Campaign Palace, The Furnace, Naked, CHE, Grey, Badjar Ogilvy, Cummins Nitro, Samuelson Talbot, Smart, Marmalde, Spinach and Draft FCB - essentially the entire Sydney and Melbourne ad industry - have pledged support and will work with their clients to create Earth Hour themed campaigns and events.
The success of last year’s event has galvanised interest from other cities and so far 20 cities have signed up to take part in 2008 including most of the Australian capital cities, Tel Aviv, Auckland, Copenhagen and 12 US cities.
Says Leo Burnett national creative director, Mark Collis: “Earth Hour was a unique moment in time which we hope to make a permanent date on the world calendar. Opening the brief up to all agencies in this way is equally unique and exciting."
Tim Castree, CEO of Leo Burnett Sydney, says the agency has always considered Earth Hour the Linux of social marketing: “We are trying to create this global open source community that comes together around a common view which is about trying to make a difference in the fight against global warming. What more powerful way to make that take hold than get the full creative force of the whole advertising and marketing industry behind Earth Hour? If we could achieve what we achieved last year with the small team and small resources we had available, then imagine how much more we could achieve if we had the entire industry behind this initiative," he says.
When Castree approached the CEOs of the top 25 agencies in Australia to get involved, they all said yes without hesitation: “I think they see the opportunity to do fantastic creative work, we have this vision that many creative agencies will win awards next year for work they do on Earth Hour. It’s a competitive industry but at the end of the day there is a lot of camaraderie and mutual respect," says Castree.
Jay Benjamin, joint-ECD of JWT Sydney [with Andy DiLallo], endorsed the call-to-action, saying this is why he got into advertising.
“This is a really special and rare opportunity. I was an environmental science major early in my university days but never felt I could make a difference (or much money) without the ability to speak to millions of people. So I moved over to mass communication hoping that one day something like this would pop up. Now it has," he says.
US born DiLallo added that last year at Cannes his fellow countryman Al Gore put out a challenge to the industry to help lead the charge on creating awareness of global climate change and with Earth Hour 2008 Leo Burnett has found a way to answer this challenge: “This is a great way to all come together in a truly selfless act, something far too rare in our business," he says.
“It’s great that something as simple as turning our lights off can light up the creative community," says Warren Brown, ECD of BMF. “Getting us all involved in making all Australians aware and conscious of our lifestyles and how they impact on the planet is a truly worthwhile cause."
Similarly, Garry Horner, creative director of Whybin\TBWA Sydney, says it’s important for every agency to become involved. One of its clients is the SMH, but Horner says other clients they have approached are also keen: “Here is an amazingly exciting conceptual area to be working in because you can break all the boundaries. It’s creating a huge social movement and being able to touch people in that way is fantastic," says Horner.
Castree doesn’t think the fact that Earth Hour won Titanium last year at Cannes will deter the judges from awarding it again: “Just like Nike can win awards every year for the work it does around the world I don’t see why Earth Hour can’t win creative awards every year. It’s no different to any other brand in that sense," he says.
Ads should run between February 1, 2008 and March 29, 2008 and reflect Earth Hour’s ultimate goal of getting people to reduce their carbon emissions by five percent a year. They can support the Earth Hour event, combat global warming in general, or be more specific, such as provide tips to reduce people’s environmental footprint on the planet. The brief and guidelines are being emailed to 360 industry leaders for distribution to their agencies. All the members of the AANA and MFA will also receive the brief.

Agencies can download the ‘Earth Hour Advertising Partnership Kit’ via this FTP site:
ftp://203.28.166.111
Login: earthhouradvertising
Password: partnership

Pictured: The CEOs and CDs of some of Australia’s top agencies gathered this week for the Earth Hour 2008 briefing at Leo Burnett’s Sydney and Melbourne offices.

The RSVP deadline for the AWARD Awards presentation being held on the 30th November 2007, is this Friday the 16th of November.
Booking forms can be downloaded from the AWARD website www.awardonline.com. Guests are asked to fax back their booking forms to AWARD on +61 2 8297 3801.
Tickets selling fast so book now!

DDB Sydney has won Gold in the Public Service category at the London International Awards for NAPCAN

Children See, Children Do TVC

, a multiple award winner which is the #17 most awarded TV commercial in the world in 2007, according to the recently published Gunn Report.
Leo Burnett Sydney walked off with three silvers for Craft, one for the McDonalds “See Things" spot and two for the Johnnie Walker “Invisible Man" commercial.
The Furnace, Sydney also won silver for the Slazenger' Mushroom Cloud' print ad.
Filmgraphics won silver (for visual direction) for National Breast Cancer Council “Finding Changes" and Plaza Films won silver (for humour) for the Carlton Draught “Flashbeer" spot via George Patterson Y&R, Melbourne.
DDB National Creative Director Matt Eastwood says: “The campaign is incredibly powerful and, importantly, feels like it can make a real difference to the significant social problems it addresses. It’s most certainly a campaign we can be proud of. We’re absolutely stoked that it’s won so many awards and to add the London International Award is just incredible."
Dove "Evolution", written, art directed and directed by Aussie expat Tim Piper, via Ogilvy & Mather Toronto, won both the Digital Best of Show and TV Best of Show, repeating its performance at Cannes in June.

Dave Tomkins and Ben Sampson have joined creative collective Happy Soldiers after just over 18 months with Clemenger BBDO Sydney.
They finished in the top three at the CLIO Future Gold competition in Miami earlier this year and also scored a trip to Cannes after winning a creative competition last year.
“Their work is very different and I think an environment like ours will be good for them," said Happy Soldiers founder John Kane. “On top of that, they already have excellent craft skills."
They have had work recognised by Clio, New York Festivals and Caxtons.

Commercial Radio Australia and the AFA are conducting a FREE Radio Creative Workshop on November 29 in Sydney.
This is an exclusive opportunity to be part of an intimate, interactive fast paced creative workshop targeted to radio station creative writers and producers/directors in Sydney.
Hot on the heels of his recent Cannes Lions Jury stint, Ralph van Dijk will run the workshop and share many of his views on where creative is going and how you can make a difference today. This hands on workshop challenges the traditional way of approaching a radio brief.

Free Creative Workshop
Southern Cross
Level 1, 170 Pacific Highway, Greenwich
Thursday 29th November
9am - 6pm
Working lunch provided

RSVP now to sarah.powell@commercialradio.com.au

Director Damien Toogood’s work as a cinematographer was awarded at the Australian Cinematographers Society recent Awards.
‘The Gold Award put Damien in the company of some of Australia’s heavyweight international cinematographers. Only three other DOP’s were given this honour, so it’s a real standout achievement’, Andrew Morris EP, Luscious International, said.
Toogood, who began lensing his own work only three years ago, received a Gold, Silver & Bronze in the Commercials category. Gold for Nescafe ‘Café Couple’ through Publicis Mojo, Silver for Beuno ‘What’s your Reason’ through Smart, and Bronze for CPA ‘Go Places’ through CHE.
CPA was also recognised at the recent Australian Director Guild Awards.

The music soundtrack in the latest Cascade Premium ads, featuring the adventures of characters with animal heads, has been composed, appropriately, by WiseMonkeyRecords.
WiseMonkeyRecords is a boutique music production and licensing company setup by ex-Campaign Palace copywriters in 2001.
"Ad music can become generic," says composer, Adam Friedman. "But we work to create a unique sound for brands, and our agency background gives us more insight. For Cascade Premium, we used a more filmscore-like approach which helps support the story."
Other WiseMonkey tracks currently on air include international campaigns for AXA, the new BMW M Series, and music for Big Brother 07 among others.
A series of in-house virals illustrating the value of choosing the right music has also received over half a million views on youtube (http://au.youtube.com/profile?user=wisemonkey).
To see more of their reel, go to www.wisemonkeyrecords.com

World class TVC director Steve Ayson is still with The Sweet Shop, in case his latest representation deals suggest otherwise. "Even though we now share Steve Ayson with Academy in the UK and Smuggler in the US, Steve is still with The Sweet Shop in Australasia and still hungry to work with the best creatives in the region," says The Sweet Shop's Managing Director Paul Prince.
Please contact Paul Prince for his latest reel - prince@thesweetshop.tv