WCRS London’s Tom ‘Moonwalking Bear’ Spicer set for joint national CD gig at The Furnace
CB Exclusive – The Furnace has snared top WCRS London creative Tom Spicer as joint national creative director, to partner Paul Fenton, effective October.
“Tom was one of the first people I spoke to when we began looking,” says Fenton. “I then went on to speak to about 20 other seriously talented creative people from within Australia and around the world. In the end, I couldn’t go past Tom. It was bloody exciting talking about the future of The Furnace with someone who I instinctively felt was as passionate about it as me,” said Fenton.
After 8 years at M&C Saatchi in London and a brief stint at BBH, Spicer joined WCRS in 2007. Internationally renowned work for Sky soon followed with his ‘billboards’ spot, set in Sao Paulo at the time of the advertising ban. But arguably his most famous work to date was for Transport for London. His cycling safety ‘Moonwalking Bear’ spot was a viral that actually went viral, being seen by an estimated 35 million people worldwide. It is listed in the Gunn Report as the 8th most awarded ad in the world and is also credited with cycling fatalities in London dropping by a third.
Throughout his career Spicer has enjoyed considerable success at majoraward shows including Cannes, D&AD, One Show, BTAA, CreativeCircle, Art Directors Club, Campaign Press, Campaign Poster, Clios andthe IPA effectiveness awards.
Says Spicer: “Australianadvertising is enjoying a purple patch at the moment. As mediadiversifies and budgets are cut around the world the most creative andresourceful markets are coming to the fore. We’ve entered an era wheretop creativity can solve bottom line problems like never before and TheFurnace is right at the heart of that.”
“The opportunity tojoin them was one I simply couldn’t refuse. The Furnace has anamazingly diverse list of clients including some great challengerbrands with a history of brave work. It’s not every day you get tohead up an independently minded agency like that. I can’t wait to getstuck in,” he added.
Adds Fenton (left): “Change is always good andvery, very necessary. We all can’t wait for Tom to arrive in earlyOctober and help shape, push and evolve the work coming out of TheFurnace.”
Following the departure of Rob Martin Murphy earlier this year, Fenton took the reins and immediately began searching for the rightperson to partner him as joint national creative director.
Says Tony Singleton, managing director of The Furnace: “Paulie stepped up and has done an amazing job, steering the creativeoutput of the agency during one of our busiest times ever, whilelooking out for his perfect match.”
24 Comments
Good on you Furnace, you’re a great bunch of people and this is going to an exciting time for you all!
paul fenton is the fucking man
paulie is the real deal, the heart and soul
Rock on Mister Fenton!
Those shoes of Phil Ingevics are big ones to fill.
Congrats to Tom, and Paul. Good luck with it all.
Paul Fenton is the sexiest guy in advertising.
Well done Tom. WCRS’ loss is Australia’s gain, and enjoy your time downunder.
Who?
I’ve just looked up some stuff he’s done…not a lot.
Could be another Lowe’s moment in 3 months…
Another Pom that takes another job away from another highly creative Australian creative director organized by another Pommy headhunter hiring another of her Pommy mates to live with his other Pommy mates in another country.
Try doing it this way…Another Aussie that takes another job away from another highly creative Pommy creative director in London? Impossible.
So why the fuck is it still possible here?
Yes I am unemployed.
Yes I am very talented.
Yes I am highly awarded.
Yes I’m not asking for a nine digit salary
Yes I have alot of successful years as a creative director
Yes I’m under 40
Yes I’m not difficult to work with
Yes I don’t need two first class return tickets home every year.
Yes I don’t need you to ship a 50 cubic meter container full of my furniture around the world.
Yes I won’t complain about the weather and cold beer
Yes I hate the bloody Queen
Yes I’m highly pissed off.
And before some highly paid untalented whinging Pom creative says it…
No I don’t deserve to be on the street in my own country.
Nice Rant (guy above me).
Whinging Pom!!!
You’re a bloody whinging Ozzie!!!!
How about getting off your fat ass and geting a job in London if you’re so good!
Idiot.
But as for the Spicer bloke…not sure…he’s never been a CD before, didn’t look after any accounts at WCRS, and he’s done one award winning ad.
3.49. That’s what the poms said about droga when he took the top job at Saatchis In London all those years ago. He showed them. I suggest you shut the fuck up and stay annonymous as you’re only going to make yourself more unemployable! You’re a global citizen when it suits you, aren’t you a ‘dickhead’.
heh 3.49, just to make you even happier, the MD quoted in the article is also a Pom.
1:50
See what I mean? They hire their own countrymen because they truly believe that Australian creative people are no where near as good as their pommy mates back home. Then they give our immigration department the bullshit line that they’ve advertised the job but there wasn’t any Australian good enough to fill the role. (Totally subjective of course.)
And 99% of time these Poms go to their pommie headhunter mates who only hire their pommie mates back in pommieland and the vicious circle continues. Meanwhile some poor Aussie bugger struggles to pay his or her mortgage in his or her own country.
So what has Spicer done??????
Not alot from what I see.
And having spoken to a mate at WCRS he wasn’t a CD…ah the beauty of the bullshit.
Mr or Ms Anonymous, you sound like a racist bigot, would you say the same if the subject of your venom was an aboriginy? If you had the guts you would append your name to your comments and if you were a really creative Aussie CD you would surely be able to write something without resorting to the ‘f word’. Why not go to London, or New York and see if you can live up to your boasts?
Whoever this Pommy hater is…you better not forget that you’re originally a Pom yourself mate, or the majority of white Australians are. The majority of Australians these days are immigrants from one part of the world or another, as in the UK. I know Tom Spicer well, and FYI he is moving to Australia for more than just work, he is married to an Australian. It just happened that he’s managed to find a great job as well. I suggest you either get on a plane and try out London advertising for yourself (see if you can cut it), and then with maybe a bit of big city experience under your belt you can return to Australia and land yourself a better job.
You want to talk about jobs being taken away from immigrants? I think you need to come to London and see what’s happening over here.
Its a global world now….it doesn’t matter where you come from, it just matters how good you are. Spicer has won numerous awards for numerous ads…….and on top of that he’s a great guy.
Tom,
I don’t know you but:
a) from those of us who aren’t consumed with bitterness and jealousy, sincere apologies for the comments of those who are, and
b) You’ve done well to land with Paulie, even if he is a big girlie-man.
Mmmmm….this guys HOT!!! Bonus to us Aussies…need more good looking men, especially if it’s a challenging ‘married’ man…..look out Tom! x
I agree totally with 5:37 It happens all the time and has been happening here for years. They think that all English creatives constantly churn out D&AD standard work when 90% 0f the work done in the UK is pure shite. It’s a classic case of perception verse reality.
I can also guarantee that there are not Australian headhunters in London with briefs to get hot Australian creatives to come to London to take up senior creative roles at the expense of an English creatives that’s for sure.
Good one 5:37 glad that someone has the balls to bring this highly contentious topic up. I bet none of the defensive comments above to your post are Aussies that’s for sure.
Well put 3:10.
For some reason Australia seems very capable of producing better creatives and work than a lot of other English speaking nations, so why would anyone want to go and work in London?
Big budgets don’t mean better work. And even the better stuff is old-school TV & Print toss.
Even a backwater like Brisbane produces better work than her majesty’s subjects.
And we’re crap compared to New Zealand.
On the ‘All you Aussies were poms originally’ subject – highly unlikely, most convicts were Irish, a few English and most of our family’s arrived after transportation had finished.
Ok…so apart from Moon Walking Bear (which uses this idea from 1999: http://viscog.beckman.illinois.edu/grafs/demos/15.html)
what else has he done?
Don’t die before you’ve lived. Google it. Then be quiet.