M&C Saatchi set to celebrate its 21st year with a glittering birthday party in Sydney this Thursday
M&C Saatchi is turning 21 this year and has plenty to celebrate as one of the largest, most lauded and successful players in Australian adland.
The group will mark the occasion with staff, clients, media and some old friends at a glittering 21st birthday party in Sydney this Thursday (21st) where it will be toasting the future as much as its past and present.
A future that will continue its transformation as a business that augments advertising with creativity in all shapes and forms to help solve business problems.
Some key milestone of this evolution include the recent launch of:
• Innovation hub Tricky Jigsaw to significantly bolster capacity to develop new products and services, working out of the ‘maker’ lab installed at M&C Saatchi Group’s Sydney HQ.
• Customer relationship business LIDA distilling insights from big data for clients.
• A retail division to help brands navigate the intersection of tech, online, mobile and data with
physical retail environments that may also one day help M&C Saatchi sell its own products.
All are achieving significant outcomes for clients and setting the group well on its path to attaining CEO Jaimes Leggett’s vision of being the most influential creative company in Australia by 2020.
M&C Saatchi has been embracing change and transformation since that May day in 1995 when Tom Dery first flung open its doors – from a Sydney Hotel room with little more than a personal credit card and ambition to service foundation clients Qantas and British Airways.
It was mere weeks after the Saatchi brothers famously walked out of the London agency they had built to become the world’s most successful and renowned to form another to carry their name.
Dery soon coaxed Tom McFarlane up from Melbourne as CD to form a partnership that still endures.
Within 18 months M&C Saatchi Australia had 14 clients, 39 staff, an AdNews Agency of the Year title and an office in Pitt St.
Ever since it has sustained that remarkable run of year-on-year growth and acclaim to be a leading force in Australian advertising.
Today it has more than 450 staff across two offices (Sydney and Melbourne) and 12 businesses.
It has just gone back-to-back as the B&T Grand Prix Agency of the Year – the first agency to ever do so – and enjoyed its most successful year at Cannes with Titanium amid its 10-Lion haul.
Its client roster comprises some of the nation’s largest and most successful brands who each day touch millions of Australians. M&C Saatchi engages them with memorable, enduring work built off big brand platforms such as: CommBank ‘Can’, Optus ‘Yes’, ‘NRMADE BETTER’ and the likes of ‘100% Pure New Zealand’ that has been picked up and run with elsewhere.
Says Leggett: “It’s great to take a moment on this special milestone to reflect on everything the Group has achieved.
“Back-to-back Grand Prix Agency of the year titles is something we’re fiercely proud of, neither of which could have been achieved was it not for the legacy forged by Tom and Tom.
“Standing on the shoulders of giants gives you a great view and we couldn’t be more excited by what we see ahead. Creativity will always be our stock in trade. In an age where category disruption is rife, creativity as a means of driving business transformation has never been more important.
“We are embracing those opportunities and the challenge to not only keep a step ahead of the market. But to help define it’s future.”
Says Dery, who is into his seventh year as M&C Saatchi Worldwide chairman: “We were very fortunate in Australia to have such fantastic support from the leadership group in London who backed us on everything we wanted to do from the outset. Plus, the association with Maurice Saatchi was inspirational.
“Other highlights for me are all the truly brilliant people – the colleagues and clients – I’ve worked with and continue to work with, none more so than Tom McFarlane. Many have become lifelong friends. That and the chance to help businesses overcome challenges to reach and exceed their goals.
“The first 21 years were great but such is the leadership, the talent and the ambition around the place now, I’m absolutely confident the group will reach new heights as we move forward.”
Says McFarlane, M&C Saatchi’s regional creative director – Asia Pacific: “The opportunity to grow something is what got me on a plane from Melbourne all those years ago and to this day it is what I enjoy most.
“Finding a ‘big idea’ that will genuinely help a client’s business grow, nurturing young talent and watching an industry I love continue to flourish.
“I am immeasurably proud that so many successful people in agencies here and around the world began, or grew their careers at M&C Saatchi Australia. It’s been a hell of a ride, wild at times, but always fun.
“Along the way I have been privileged to work with so many talented people, who are also good people. Not the least Tom Dery who has been my partner and friend for over 25 years.”
To mark the occasion M&C Saatchi has published a beautiful, 148-page coffee table hardback book that celebrates each of the 21 years through milestones and a showcase of seminal work.
A copy of the book has been given to each staff member, clients and media.
Some highlights from M&C Saatchi’s first 21 years:
• The Australian’s ‘Agency of the Decade’ 2000 to 2010.
• 32 Agency of the Year titles.
• Hundreds of creative and effectiveness awards.
• Ranked No.2 on BRW’s Most Innovative Companies List (2014).
• A client roster, both past and present, that amounts to deep experience (in some
instances up to two decades) across virtually every sector, including: financial services, telco, insurance, airlines, tech, big retail, auto, FMCG, not-for-profit, tourism, media, software, fashion and apparel.
• An unfair share of market-leading – and in some instances world’s best – talent highlighted by the following recent appointments:
• Chief creative officer Andy Dilallo, executive creative director Michael Canning, chief strategy officer Justin Graham, managing partner and head of Commbank Mim Haysom, head of innovation Ben Cooper, managing director of Bang PR Annalise Brown.
16 Comments
Is this an invite?
M&C Saatchi is and will always be my favorite agency.
The people, the leaders, the culture. There I made lifelong friends and learned a lot, very quickly. It’s a place I’d happily return to. Great agency, great heritage and great times.
Worked at M&C and remember it as the best time I have had in any job. Out of control at times but it was fun.Pre PC madness of course.
If they can ‘define it’s future’ then they’re even changing the English language.
The benchmark for leadership.
The benchmark for big work.
The benchmark for developing creatives.
The benchmark for being a grown-up agency.
The benchmark. Simple as that.
Take a bow Tom and Tom.
Australian advertising is in your debt.
By far the best agency in Australia and if I was still in the country this is the only agency I would entertain working at. Incredible culture, the very best in every department/role and they really know how to have a bloody good time. This party will no doubt be incredible.
By far the best agency in Australia and if I was still in the country this is the only agency I would entertain working at. Incredible culture, the very best in every department/role and they really know how to have a bloody good time. This party will no doubt be incredible.
By far the best agency i ever worked in.Chaos abounded but their competitiveness in pitches was at times terrifying.It was also fun.The sort of fun you could have in agencies pre all the PC. bullshit.Good luck T&T and thanks for the memories.
Chaos.Madnes.Laughs.No political correctness.Consatant pitching.Constant winning.Ratbags and misfits from more serious agencies.What f#$%&#@& fun we had!!T&T thanks for the memories.
As another ex M&C staffer I was always intrigued at how they managed to keep a real family vibe going despite being a big beast of an agency and you cant ask for much more than that. Big ups to T & T for putting so much time and effort into the culture of the joint which looks like it’s a baton that’s been passed to the new crew. I really do miss their parties, all of them bell ringers.
From zero to one of the biggest mobs in the land in this is well worthy of raising a glass or several. Whichever way you look at it they are an impressive outfit that continues to make big impacts for big clients. Well done Tom and Tom and looks like they picked a winner in Jaimes Leggett for picking up the ball and running hard with it.
Loved my time there.Never a fucking dull moment.Congrats M&Cers one and all.
What a sweatshop it was,but always a loaded bar full of piss to cool you down.
Couldn’t believe how generous they were to their staff having just arrived from London.Made lifelong friends there and learnt heaps.
What I was taught at M&C took me to great jobs both here and in London.
You were always thrown in the deep end and told you can do it.
Especially in pitches.It was the best training a young suit could get.
Hope it hasn’t changed.
Happy birthday and thanks for so many happy memories to all the old M&C crew.
Other shops should take a close look at what made M&C the success it is.Great leadership,real business acumen and a great generosity of spirit when it came to their staff.Well done Tom , Ben and Tom.