John McCabe and Mel Turkington partner up to launch new consultancy Einstein’s Hairdresser
September 6 2012, 10:26 am | | 26 Comments
John McCabe and Mel Turkington have partnered together to create Einstein’s Hairdresser – a company aimed at creating big ideas that helps brands better connect with their target audiences.
McCabe and Turkington have experience on big global brands like Coke, Toyota, P&G, Kimberly Clark, Apple and Levis. The duo have worked out of London, New York, Sydney and Auckland and along the way have won a load of awards.
Says McCabe: “Mel and I became instant friends in Sydney about eight years ago. She’s a fearless thinker who is just born to think of ideas bigger than ads. As I recall. We talked enthusiastically about working together some day.”
Turkington says she has no recollection of any of this happening.
26 Comments
Go Mel!
Hard to imagine a brand with any real quality or serious ambition wanting to put its business into the hands of a consultancy that calls itself Einstein’s Hairdresser.
Maybe as the name of a garage band doing no talent night gigs at the local pub this gets a few laughs, but that’s where it ends . . . and it will.
“a company aimed at creating big ideas that helps brands better connect with their target audiences”
There’s a differentiating promise right there.
Hot, hot, hot, hot, hot.
Great talent
Good luck Johnnie
John McCabe’s One Show letter to a certain Sydney ECD is still the best scam joke I’ve ever heard in advertising. Pure genius. Good luck John.
Good on you McCabe, she’s not just a pretty face, Mel’s an ideas machine.
How embarrassing. Calling yourself Einstein’s hairdresser when you make commercials is an insult to those who actually do like……worthwhile stuff that you need a degree for….and that photo is pure comedy gold.
Great to see Ricky Gervais in Australia.
What’s In A Name is quite right.
Einstein’s Hairdresser is another in a long line of agencies whose silly name forever held them back.
They will join the pantheon of nomenical failures:
MOJO
The Campaign Palace
Three Drunk Monkeys
Mother
Mad Dogs And Englishmen
St Lukes
They should have called themselves McCabe & Turkington.
That would have got the industry talking.
DISCLAIMER:
Mr. McCabe is a friend of mine. I have not met Ms Turkington but I am sure she is perfectly nice.
Mother will last forever, as a name and as a creative entity, because it’s just that kind of place, and that kind of eternal brand.
Mad Dogs, the name MOJO (is anybody doing jingles anymore? maybe why they’re called Publicis, and that’s not going too well either), St. Lukes, The Palace, all dead and gone, and the names reminiscent of a bygone era which is indicative of the why about their passing.
TDM changed to The Monkeys for all the reasons we imagine and more, and even at that, they’re a one trick copy the great work local agency, and nothing more, although Micah may just change that and then they can change the brand again to 4M.
While McCabe and Turkington was probably not a good suggestion either, especially since no one outside of antipodea has the slightest idea who that is, we’re nearly certain that there were other options to your default suggestion.
Sounds like you and your old friend are in much the same dilemma when it comes to contemporary creativity, and why the name game and the brand game may not be your thing any longer. Try finding a young associate yourself and let her come up with the goods.
Does help to actually have a name.
Or at least say things you’re happy to put one to.
Best of luck Mel and McCabe.
You have to feel sorry for people like 8:12am, obviously barely out of short pants and clearly not around when in their own very different ways Mojo and The Campaign Palace were absolute phenomenons that lasted for decades. Their styles differed, but both brought incredible success to their clients and their people, and changed advertising forever. Incidentally 8:12, the name Mojo was not some fanciful wank, but a simple amalgam of the names of the founders, Mo (Allan Morris) and Jo (Allan Johnson). It was an exciting time, the likes of which we will never see again. My advice to you 8:12 is to not pontificate about things you have absolutely no knowledge of. It only makes you look like a fool. Finally, I wish both McCabe and Mel the best of fortune, having worked with both of them.
@stevedodds.
You so rock..
There’s just such a provincial tendency in Australia for people to wrap themselves up in the flag, especially where nostalgia is concerned. It’s a small town mentality, and it reveals all too much about the simple mindedness of the speakers.
Yes, everyone knows and appreciates the legacy of the two Al(l)ans, hence the comment about jingles. No, MoJo was not a ‘fanciful wank’ of a name, and of course it was an anagram for the founders, but it most definitely had the double meaning of a magic charm.
Likewise, no one doubts the reputation of the Palace either, but that use of the all too clever agency name is passe today, which is why Einstein’s Hairdresser smells so strongly of an era gone by, and why several here have commented to that effect. They maybe creative people, but the moniker isn’t going to help.
Not everyone who challenges a creative decision that’s being PR’d on this blog is an inexperienced youngster either, and the addled knee-jerk reaction usually tells us a good deal more about the commenter than the object of their criticism, where the one pointing at the fool realises he’s looking in the mirror, and that it’s neither a youthful nor an attractive reflection.
Despite your remorseful look at the past, we’ll see exciting times in advertising again, although you may have to move from the current accounts-driven climate in Australia to find them.
FYI, of the best and longest lasting creative shops in the world, several are named for their founders, W+K, BBH, CPB, Goodby, BBDO NY, Saatchi & Saatchi, Droga5,
and then there are the numericals, 180 Amsterdam for example, and of course, Mother.
Now there’s a history lesson for you, old timer. Good luck to your mates, they’ll need it.
Hotter than a buccaneers pistol……and you don’t look so bad either Johnny.
All the very best.
@2:54. My point, madam, was the manner in which 8:12 framed his criticism betrayed someone who clearly wasn’t around at the time yet has the self-assured swagger to write off great agencies with a dismissive wave of the hand. I wonder if you, too, would adopt such a condescending tone if you and I met face to face.
If you’re in advertising, how tough or intimidating could you be, really? Unless it’s late Friday afternoon, you’ve had your eight beers, and you’ve summoned the courage to throw a sucker punch at one of the double images.
Probably take you out with the first swing of my handbag, you big girl’s blouse.
Your point is on your head, and for the record, it’s an anonymous blog, so nothing is ‘clearly’ anything. To my read, nobody was writing off great agencies, just saying that for those mentioned by the great Steve Dodds, they were mostly yesterday’s shops, with names to match, and hence the go at Einstein’s Wigmaker, or some such shite as a moniker for a new venture in 2012, not 1982.
It’s time to go home to the Missis now, and have a vomit before dinner, tough guy.
You can get back to brand insulting on Monday, if you and your walker can make it in to the office, from the pub.
Thanks everyone, for the mostly encouraging words.
I have a confession to make: Einstein’s Hairdresser was not my idea.
It was Dave Droga’s. We were at a Saatchi board meeting in Vietnam and it came up in a speech Dave was giving. As you now know I liked it so much I embraced it as a company name.
I know Dave well enough to realise that he will never ever let me forget this. That is punishment enough, don’t you think?
All Melissa and I are trying to do is approach things a little differently, have a bit of fun and do some great work. Surely not a crime in a creative industry.
Thanks again for taking the time to give us your thoughts.
But i have to say that If I followed all the advice I’ve had from anonymous writers on blogs over the years, I’m pretty sure no one would ever have heard of me.
John McCabe, Writer, Campaign Palace, Senior creative, BBH london, ECD Campaign Palace, ECD Saatchi NZ, Founder Fahrenheit 212/ Saatchi NewYork, Proud owner, Einstein’s Hairdresser.
Jeez mate….look at the shitfight you’ve started, and thats just with the name….god forbid you should do some controversial work……too funny.
Hairdressers, always the sensitive types.
Very Good Luck to you John & Mel. You are bloody brilliant.
Dave Weller/Dawkins
Will you guys be offering pensioners specials, perms and highlights?
Will you guys be offering pensioners specials, perms and highlights?
@History Lesson 4.44PM Sept 7: Your rant is amusing to read, but delivered in a Glasgow accent it’s positively sidesplitting.
Good luck, guys – let the work talk and you’ll be fine, no doubt.
See you when I’m looking at you.