FURBY OUT, MARTIN MURPHY IN SHAKEUP AT THE FURNACE

June 28 2006, 1:58 pm | BY campaignbrief | 37 Comments

Russel Howcroft, CEO of The Furnace, announced today Rob Martin Murphy

will be joining The Furnace as their new national creative director, replacing Jay Furby. Furby, who was in Cannes last week, has left the agency to pursue other options in both Australia and overseas.

Martin Murphy will have overall responsibility for the creative leadership of The

Furnace in Sydney and Melbourne, and he starts his new role next Monday,

3 July.

Says Howcroft: “Rob is a great ideas guy and we’re excited to

have him on board managing the creative product of The Furnace. Rob’s

role is to build on our reputation of delivering superb, breakthrough

work that drives growth for our clients.”

Martin Murphy began his advertising career as a copywriter in 1990 at the age of

18. After stints at Leo Burnett, JWT, Ball Partnership and BAM

SSB in Sydney, he was offered the post of Executive Creative Director

of Euro RSCG Singapore/Malaysia, in February 2000.

He has a wealth of experience across many brands including SBS, Asia

Pacific Breweries, Yahoo!, Volvo, Reckitt Benckiser, Nestle, Unilever,

Red Bull, Philips, Peugeot, and Sara Lee.

His work has gained recognition at major award shows including Cannes,

Clio, One Show, Asian Advertising Awards, and AWARD.

He was a tutor of AWARD School in Australia for five years, co-Chairman

for two years and was a tutor for the Institute of Advertising Singapore

for three years. He was also a member of the Havas Worldwide Creative

Board while at Euro RSCG Singapore, and has been a judge at AWARD and

the Singapore CCAs.

Martin Murphy left Euro RSCG in 2005 and took a break from the business while

continuing with his rugby career (he played for both the national

Singapore 15’s and 7’s rugby teams). He returned as a freelance

consultant and led several successful pitches including a global

experiential marketing project for Tiger Beer on behalf of The Works (an

agency with offices in London, New York and Sydney).

Says Martin Murphy: “I’m looking forward to working back in the Australian industry and working with The Furnace. They have a great portfolio of brands, which presents a terrific opportunity for me. I’m also looking forward to working with Anthony Gregorio and Russel Howcroft. They are both supporters of great ideas and I admire where they want to take the agency.”