@radical.media aligns with Collider in Australia – will represent US roster but not Aussie directors
@radical.media and Collider today announced the two companies have formed a partnership for the Australian market, whereby @radical.media will close its Australian office and its roster of award-winning US directors will be represented by Collider, a unique film production company and design studio.
However, CB understands @radical’s Australian roster will not be part of the deal and will be going elsewhere. The directors are Hannah Hilliard, Johan Polhem, Tim Kindler, Grant Sputore, Ben West, Jasmin Tarasin and Toby&Pete.
@radical’s Australian managing director Ian Fowler (left), who is also not part of the deal, had not returned calls CB’s call this morning, but CB believes he will announce his future plans soon, and will continue in his role as co-chair of the Communications Council’s Commercial Producers Council group
Says Frank Scherma, @radical.media president: “We’re excited and thrilled to be working with our new partners and of course, our friends over at Collider. @radical and Collider have historically had strong ties and admiration for one another. We’ve worked with some of their local talents as well as one of their co-founders, Daniel Askill, who’s become an innovative director in the U.S. and in Europe.”
Sam Zalaiskalns, managing director of Collider, says representing @radical.media in Australia is a unique business and creative opportunity for both companies.
“We have a long and synergistic working relationship with @radical.media. Representing them in this market is a great opportunity to continue our long-term growth plans by expanding Collider’s global presence. Collider is evolving and we’re really excited to take on a closer alignment with @radical.media. It’s another part of an exciting phase for us.”
Rachael Ford-Davies, executive producer at Sydney based Collider, says the talent they will represent via @radical.media, is highly complimentary to Collider’s existing roster of directors.
Says Ford-Davies: “This move will expand our roster and enable us to offer on any creative idea. Our current group of talent has a highly visual aesthetic, which is what we’re known for, and @radical’s roster has amongst other things a great strength in performance. This move opens up a lot of avenues for us creatively.”
Says Jon Kamen, chairman & CEO of @radical.media: “We have had a terrific independent run in Australia and have worked with so many fantastic people, but everyone knows the advertising and marketing world is changing, and it has always been part of @radical’s DNA to change with it.
“Partnering with Collider is smart, especially given their creative capabilities, and the potential this partnership provides to continue the evolution of our global reach.”
17 Comments
When two worlds Collider?
Considering @radical no longer has an Australian roster (they’re all at Finch), and have been doing nothing but selling the US and UK directors to the local market as best they can for the past year or two, this isn’t much in the way of news really, except for the fact that the locals who’ve been running the place are now out of work.
That it’s Collider, with the Askill connection that have taken over the brand representation locally isn’t much of a surprise either, but considering how much work anyone would have been able to get for @radical here, it’s all a much of a muchness.
The bigger question is how it will all work for Ian Fowler and the Commercial Producer’s Council when he no longer has a company to represent?
Exactly what @radical in Australia would they be talking about?
Two executive producers and a nice office?
Honestly, there hasn’t been an @radical here since Finch was founded, and this seems like as good a move as ever for Scherma, Kamen, et.al, to keep Askill on what is an increasingly failing roster in the US.
The Death Star is dead!
It’s the beginning of the end for Radical. Let’s face it. You don’t merge unless you’re weak. It’s a last ditch effort.
So spare us the PR.
This just shows the power and impact of people on a company with the Finch machine rolling on and kicking goals left right and centre whilst @radical falls in a heap. A name can only get you so far but the people within it stand the test of time.
What a fascinating case study.
Five years ago, when The Glue Society and Bruce Hunt went to Revolver, and Jeff Darling and Nick Robertson retired from the business, everyone said radical was closing down and would be gone from the market in 6 months. I wouldn’t give up on them yet.
@not out
They did close down 5 years ago – not physically that’s all.
What a crappy PR spin by Collider. Total HYPE. Rather say nothing at all.
When a large, multi-national, producer-driven company, where directors have very little say in the running of the operation, create a “synergistic working relationship” with a small, local, director-driven studio, where the opposite is decidedly the case, it’s hard to imagine a successful outcome, or any outcome at all really.
For anyone even passingly familiar with either or both of the parties involved, the truth is that this is much more of a Collision than an alignment.
wow….loads of great comments from the Finch staff upping themselves…..
way to be constructive guys…. a tough time for many companies in production and post… is that the most intelligent commentary you can manage? sling a bit of mud…nice
Best of luck to everyone @ the old radical.
FYI Nick Robertson has not retired from the business … he’s at Plaza!
If you’re name isn’t Middleditch, it’s the same thing.
What a pack of arseholes we all are.
Guess what, it’s advertising, the most mistrusted, ridiculed, and despised profession this side of the law, with plenty of justification.
At best we’re all a mob of liars, and fraudsters, and cheats, and those aren’t insults, they’re job descriptions.
The problem for some is not being good enough at any of the above, and then it’s time for a change. Ruthlessness is only a virtue when it brings home the bacon, and @radicalmedia has just run out of pork.