100% French-owned Publicis Mojo on alert with Lynchpin Nicholas Davie set to depart by Xmas

CB Exclusive – It’s no surprise that in front of every one of Australia’s best creative shops – past and present – stands high profile creative leaders. Think Palace – Hunt, Mather, Vaughan and Whybin; think Saatchi’s – Gough, Waterhouse, Mather, Isherwood and Nobay; think OMON – Reynolds, Barnett and Droga; think Clems – Greenlaw, Blackley, McGrath and Keogh.

More recently, The Glue Society – Kneebone and Freedman; BMF – Brown; Droga5 – Nobby and Marshall; The Monkeys – Drape and Nowell; Leo Burnett – DiLallo.

But, talk to the huge blue chips they collectively represent, and it’s clear that it’s not all the flash and charisma of the creative front men that make their shops so alluring to big clients these days, it’s the steady, pragmatic smarts of their management off-siders that ultimately keep the big budget clients hanging around for more.

At Droga, it’s Sudeep Gohil that steadies the ship and offsets Nobby’s famous excesses. At The Monkeys it’s the quietly spoken partner Mark Green who’s usually credited with all the noise the agency makes.

And then there’s Mojo.

Ten years ago, the creative frontman credited with both the Melbourne and Sydney offices winning accolades was indisputably Darren Spiller (left). Such was his hold over key clients, that when he left for the top creative spot at Fallon in the US, Mojo actually promised they’d somehow ignore geography and maintain him as the creative lead on their prized Vic Tourism business. (Which of course never happened).

For the last five years, Spiller’s creative throne moved to Sydney ECD Micah Walker (right). Under Walker’s uncompromising eye, the agency went on to surpass all Mojo’s previous creative records and become a destination for some of the world’s best thinkers and creatives.

Of course, Walker’s now gone – he’s since been lured to a partner /ECD role at The Monkeys – and so has a string of great creatives he nurtured in his time there. Few would see Mojo co-chairman and regional ECD Craig Davis as his natural replacement. Whilst well respected internationally, Davis’s natural domain would seem to be more the board room than the trenches of the creative department.

All of which makes the significance of Mojo’s undisputed management kingpin, Nicholas Davie, all the more central to Mojo’s success. After all, he’s the first person the heads of core clients Qantas, Toyota and Lion Nathan call up when they want assurance their massive budgets are in the right hands.

The problem is, for Mojo at least, it seams the kingpin is already packing his bags and dreaming of a life far from advertising on the back of his recent payday from Publicis.

Davies – pictured above with Kerrie-Anne Kennerley and wife Neena – did not deny he was leaving when questioned by CB. He emailed back: “Still around for the year”. So that’s Christmas, or possibly sooner.

Davie’s impending departure come as he celebrates his 25th year at Mojo, having joined in 1987, when Mo and Jo still ruled the roost – switching from the client side at P&G and before that, Unilever.

Will iconic Aussie agency Mojo be better off under 100% French ownership? VOTE HERE