Following on from some big changes at Droga5 recently, which said goodbye to its foundation client and one of its founding partners, creative partner Mike O’Sullivan has announced the departure of the brand from the New Zealand market after two and a bit years and the arrival of The Collective, a new creative venture with a central hub of five and a network of contractors to call upon.
Browsing: Andrew Stone
The news that Andrew Stone had departed his post at Droga5 came a few weeks back, with consultancy, fishing and family time taking precedence over his position with agency he helped set up with Mike O’Sullivan and Jose Alomajan in 2010. And his consultancy work has taken him back to a client he knows very well from his time as chief executive at Saatchi & Saatchi: Telecom.
We broke the story about Andrew Stone leaving Droga5 on Friday to spend more time with his family and do some consultancy work. And that high-profile departure, combined with the recent loss of its foundation client ASB to Saatchi & Saatchi, led to a fair bit of speculation that Droga5 was in a bit of trouble. But Mike O’Sullivan, who has stepped up to fill the leadership role, says the doors are still well and truly open and, with a few new clients and a new management team, the agency is poised for growth.
After leaving Saatchi & Saatchi to set up the local outpost of Droga5 in April 2010, it’s believed business partner Andrew Stone has left the building after a few eventful years at the helm.
Last time we talked about AA it was related to a fairly dodgy looking RWC campaign launched by one of its subsidiaries AA Bookabach. But it’s better news this time, with chief executive Peter Blackwell announcing the formal appointment of Droga5 as its agency after working with it on various projects over the past 12 months.
With a collection of interesting characters and adversaries, some fairly intriguing back-stories and plenty of moolah at stake, the move of ASB from its agency of over ten years TBWA\ to Droga5 in June was one of the year’s most captivating stories. Not surprisingly, there’s been plenty of interest around the traps as to what Andrew Stone, Mike O’Sullivan, Jose Alomajan and the team would come up with—and whether the Droga5 mythology was all it was cracked up to be. Well, with a massive refresh of the bank’s brand and a new positioning statement around ‘creating futures’, you can now judge for yourself. But if the responses of the bank’s 5000 staff to the new brand and the confidence the main protagonists have in it are anything to go by, turns out it just might be.
Members of the marcomms fraternity will be descending on Auckland’s Rendezvous Hotel next month for the Annual Association of New Zealand Advertisers (ANZA) Speakers Summit. And the focus of this year’s event will be on consumer engagement and communication effectiveness in a fast-changing world.
If you believe the company mantra, TBWA\ is all about ‘disruption’. And there’s been plenty of that in Mayoral Drive lately (although not of the creative kind it likes), after ASB decided to end its 12 year relationship and shack up with Droga5 last week.
ASB has scratched its 12 year itch, after long-time incumbent TBWA\ was ousted by new (but old) boys on the block, Droga5.
It’s been almost six months since Saatchi & Saatchi’s then chief executive Andrew Stone and executive creative director Mike O’Sullivan packed their bags and wandered out the doors. Not surprisingly, the rumours about their future plans were plentiful, but the major one, that the pair would be getting into bed with Droga5, has now come to fruition.
StopPress has heard from a reliable yet sneaky mole that Andrew Stone and Mike O’Sullivan’s new shop will be opening its doors shortly and, apparently, it won’t be too dissimilar from Assignment, with the two ex-Saatchi’s chaps planning on working with clients on strategy and creative and then outsourcing the grunt work to a pool of freelancers. But the big Fleetwood Mac is that the new shop might be opening its doors with a fairly big name on the roster: Toyota.
StopPress has received word from a very reliable source inside Saatchi & Saatchi who wishes to remain anonymous that the rumours are true: CEO Andrew Stone and ECD Mike O’Sullivan are departing.
“It’s time for the truth. Andrew Stone and Mike O’Sullivan will be leaving Saatchi & Saatchi in …
Could it be? Fastline has reported rumours from a “very reliable source” that Saatchi’s CEO Andrew Stone and ECD Mike O’Sullivan have resigned.
Numerous attempts were made to get someone, anyone, to confirm or deny, but no-one in the Auckland office – including the two men in question – was …