Former DDB NZ and GPYR Melbourne Executive Creative Director Paul Catmur has ended months of speculation by announcing that he is joining forces with rising independent agency Barnes Advertising, currently owned and led by Daniel Barnes. The new shop, to be titled: Barnes, Catmur & Friends, will operate from April out of newly acquired premises in High Street.
"Daniel and I have a similar vision of the way the industry is moving and complementary skills. He has operated a successful, highly regarded agency with loyal clients and staff for the last eleven years. My job is to bring in another wise head to work on our clients’ business and to work on raising the creative profile of what is already a very accomplished agency."
Both Barnes and Catmur will carry the title of Creative Managing Partner dividing creative and management duties between them as required.
Says Catmur: "Clients want to be in contact with the best minds of an agency and to work directly with senior talent, yet they find that increasingly hard to accomplish.  With Daniel and I both accessible and accountable to clients we believe we can reverse that trend. Barnes advertising may have been an independent, but neither the agency nor its clients have ever suffered from a lack of ambition.
“Daniel and the agency are already looking after an enviable client list including Subaru, Yamaha Motorcycles, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Langham Hotels and Geneva Health. Our first priority is, of course, to continue looking after them in the manner to which they have become accustomed."
Says Barnes: “This confirms that the worldwide trend towards high-quality independent shops like Mother, St Lukes, Naked etc is now fully breaking on New Zealand shores albeit, a little late. Of course we have a long way to go to match the success of those agencies but they have set great examples.
"Everyone knows Paul's work is great," says Barnes. "and it’s about time one of the big name New Zealand CDs jumped in and really got involved with his clients and their business. The independent scene's been getting stronger every year, just take a look at the recent Direct and Interactive awards where half the Gold awards went to Indies. Barnes advertising was itself the first indie agency to pick up the Fair Go Best Ad award. Both unthinkable a few years ago.
“There's nothing inherently wrong with the multinational agencies, but not all clients either want, or can afford, to work that way. Especially with the budgetary constraints that will become increasingly prevalent.  As the economy slows, pressures increase on clients to cut costs while maintaining creative standards and no one will be better placed than us to meet that challenge."