CB Hot Suit Takes: Sean Cummins, Founder and Chief Creative Officer, Cummins & Partners

May 1 2026, 12:49 pm | BY Ricki Green | No Comments

CB Hot Suit Takes is our new Q&A series for extremely busy CEOs and senior leaders across the industry ~ covering careers, creativity, challenges and the song that sums it all up. Next in the hot seat is Sean Cummins, Founder and Chief Creative Officer, Cummins & Partners.

What made you get into advertising?

It was 42 years ago. Which according to the average age statistics of the advertising business today, 90% of my current industry colleagues weren’t born. I followed my army father into an army career as a would-be l lawyer. In my university room I had a small portable black and white tv that provided a lovely distraction from All England Law Reports and the contract law rulings of the very witty Lord Denning. So, writing and the precision of words intrigued me. I used to watch the ads and like many, I was captivated by the good ones and thought I could do better than the bad ones. I decided to find out what advertising was about. In North Sydney in the mid-1980s creative departments were dominated by brilliant English creatives and I had no hope of cracking this cabal. So, I went to Melbourne with a chip on my shoulder and got a job at Dancer Fitzgerald Sample to work on a US campaign imported to Australia. It was for Toyota. It was “Oh what a Feeling”. And it taught me the fundamentals of great platforms. And like me, the campaign has endured and grown and adapted to the whims and fashions of advertising and is still breathtakingly relevant today. Yep, I still have a chip on my shoulder.

Which piece of work are you most proud of, and why?

I love the fact that I was behind the scenes of many great campaigns. I am a true collaborator and wasn’t one to put my name on a lot of work that perhaps I should’ve. The people at cummins&partners have done some ground-breaking work given we never acted or tried to be the hottest agency going around. Whether it was “Best job in the World”, “I bought a Jeep”, Doritos “Ultrasound” to name a few. The personal pieces I wrote were never singular ads…but true to my Toyota training… the best ideas aren’t one-off executions. They’re platforms. Things that can expand evolve and carry meaning across time and channels. RSPCA “All creatures great and Small” was about turning the RSPCA into a brand. Instead of a belligerent animal welfare organisation. Virgin Blue “Keeping the air fair” was a direct challenge to the cosy duopoly of Qantas and Ansett (remember them?). “You’ll love every piece of Victoria” was another groundbreaking notion that diverse experiences were worth traveling to. And even turning Chadstone into “The Fashion Capital” when it still only had a Clark’s Rubber store and a crappy Kmart. Most of these campaigns have run for 20+ years. That makes me proud.

What’s the biggest challenge you face in your role right now?

If I’m honest, one of the harder parts of a long career in advertising is not the work itself, but perception. The industry can be very quick to read “experience” as irrelevance” or to make assumptions about where you sit in the modern landscape. You learn not to react emotionally to that, and instead just keep letting the work speak. I feel I am getting better as a thinker than I ever was before. You can learn from everyone if they talk to the fundamentals of good communication. But there are a lot of the current crop of advertising people who try to package up the traditional stuff and present it in terms that seem new and fresh. But really, the basics never change. It takes time to master those.

What’s the most recent thing you’ve learned – professionally or personally?

The personal and the professional is very much interwoven for me. It’s hard not to when you’ve owned your own business for over 30 years. But how I show up to work isn’t how I am at home. I’m an ardent critic of WFH and nothing can convince me that …for our industry… it’s better for growth, mental health or the quality of the work. So, I’ll leave it at that. I feel lucky that I’ve had all this incredible cross category education. The trick I’ve learned is not to live in the past. I don’t pine for the good old days. It’s a bake fresh daily business and you’re only as good as what you produce today. I really love the industry now and feel, rather embarrassingly, like I have an advantage over most people. Because I have seen all the same problems facing brands before, and being able to draw on game plans, code language and industry successes and failures to get to the right place sooner is what learning is about. The big issue facing clients is a lot of current advertising people are learning on the job. And that’s ok if they see the potential. But potential, without experience is risky. I try to be a person with experience and potential. I try not to ever to be too good for this industry, never be cynical and just keep inquiring.

What song best sums up your career so far?

“Don’t hold back” The Potbelleez

Photographer: Asher Milgate

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