Ad agency roster on alert as Telstra appoints Mark Collis director, creativity + innovation
Telstra has appointed top creative director Mark Collis as its first director, creativity and innovation, the first Australian marketer to recognise such a role, following a trend that has been happening overseas in recent years.
A Telstra spokesperson told CB: “Mark will report to chief marketing officer Kate McKenzie. Mark will bring his ideas into the Telstra mix, and will work with people throughout the business to stimulate new thinking – to help turn good ideas into reality.”
The appointment of Collis may have ramifications for Telstra’s rosteragencies down the track. The current roster includes Ogilvy, BWM, DDB,Droga5 and Three Drunk Monkeys. Interestingly, Collis reporting to Kate McKenzie, rather than Amanda Johnston-Pell, Telstra’s executive director of brand and marketing communications – who’s currently on maternity leave – means he has major influence on Telstra’s marketing and creative direction, according to one source close to the situation.
However, a Telstra spokesperson told CB: “Mark’s role has no bearing onTelstra’s existing marketing team or day-to-day campaigns. He has awide-ranging brief that will span many parts of the company includinginnovation, products and technology.”
CB has since discovered that Collis and McKenzie have worked together before, when the latter was the Workcover client at the time Collis was creative director at D’Arcy. McKenzie would no doubt have pushed for the appointment of Collis to this role, but CB understands he was interviewed for the role and appointed by Telstra CEO, David Thodey.
Calls to Collis went unanswered at blogtime.
Collis was most recently ECD at Ogilvy and Mather, Tokyo, where he had been since January 2008, returning toSydney at the end of October last year. He told CB exclusively at the time: “I’m in discussions with acouple of people but it might be that I simply help out on projectsdirectly for other agencies and clients.”
Collis was previously ECD at Leo Burnett Sydney and known for campaignssuch as ‘Pommies’ for Bundaberg and ‘Inner Child’ for McDonalds, aswell as the award winning original ‘Earth Hour’ campaign for WWF. Earth Hour and Inner Child were both included in Campaign Brief’s top ads of the decade.
104 Comments
….Looking forward to the feedback on this one…
ramifications!
Ballsy, smart move by Telstra. Now leave him alone to do his thing.
If suits can jump to the client side, its about time creatives did too. Very soon , they won’t need agencies at all.
Was always going to happen. Worth acknowledging that a few clients already have ‘valued relationships’ with Creative influencers. They just don’t publicise them.
Get that paper, son.
Is Mark still great mates with Nigel marsh? It could be good news for George Patts Sydney.
Ad industry please note…this is the beginning of the end.
David Jones only need a ‘production partner’ like welcom because creative direction is in house.
Telstra now appointing creatives….
Armageddon is neigh…
Farewell Mad Men, RIP
Ted’s had the same gig at DJs for ten years. Worked for them, but they cut him slack. Good on Telstra.
Watch out BWM; Mark doesn’t like dialogue.
Any truth in the rumour that this news means the marketing dept has finally been found out? Wouldn’t be surprising after 2 years of promising the earth and delivering nothing. No one has the guts to say it because they are all so scared.
Nice to know there’s a place good advertising creatives can go when the industry thinks they’re too old to have any value.
Wonder if Telstra will let him wear thongs to work though?
Watch out BWM, Mark doesn’t like dudes that dress like chicks either.
Like Nigel Marsh at GPY&R, Todd (Sampson) at Leo Burnett will also be happy. The three amigos – Marsh, Sampson, Collis – were a great team running D’Arcy and later Leo Burnett. What’s the bet Ogilvy and maybe BWM or DDB gets replaced by GPY&R and Leo’s before too long.
And a terrible marketing department they are over there, which Mark will bypass. Definitely a good thing!
any truth to the rumour that this is in reaction to the new 3DM spots?
Phillip (3:49) why the assumption that the Monkeys and Droga will be alright? Not sure their output on the business is anything to guarantee safety
who wants to deal with an agency if they don’t have to?
I’d say Monkeys and Droga will be fine.
They’re both new shops working on the accounts and are still finding their feet. Most of the others have a proven track record of utter, utter bollocks.
Telstra should be applauded for this appt. It’s reassuring to see a marketing organisation, particularly one of Telstra’s size, put their money where their mouth is when it comes to the importance of creativity. As Mark is very much an ad man, we should be delighted Telstra looked to our industry for someone to fill the role; and equally delighted good ad people now have another way to practice their craft.
All for creatives on the client side. Cut to the chase.
Ken, I’d say Monkeys have already established a track record – maybe not for utter, utter bollocks but clearly not for brilliance either.
Maybe people should stop blaming the agencies involved in all the bland work and question the marketing director who has been in charge instead
Tempted to agree with 2:41, but will a client’s creative culture be as demanding as an agency’s?
I think there’ll always be a gap between what the two businesses bring to the table creativity-wise.
Then again, a pig doesn’t care how well it can sing. It only cares what it pays for singing lessons.
Hope that makes sense. I’ve had a few.
Phillip, after the D’Arcy closure, the Marsh Collis Sampson relationship wasn’t always hugs and cuddles. They worked together at Leos a bit later on, but not for long. maybe because they had a falling out again. Or maybe not.
This is a very interesting move. Of course its success or failure in influencing (raising?) the standard of advertising produced by Telstra – and their choice of agencies – depends on whether Collis is the main pipeline or just one little tributary feeding into it.
You got that right 4:38! Speaking as one who has had to put up with the demeaning Ellen style monday morning meetings for too long I’m delighted management has finally seen through all the bluster. The Emperor indeed has no clothes.
The agencies have nothing to fear. Mark will ensure its a level playing field. BWM don’t need the ‘special relationship’ they have enjoyed with A J-P to survive. Their work will speak for itself.
How long ago was Great Wall Of China ad? Talk about living off former glories. It was high time for a change.
Endlessly trading off ‘I was the client for the Rabbits ad’ clearly has a sell by date.
4.38pm, you hit the nail on the head. All these agencies are capable of creating great work. And I’m sure they all do, but it’s the marketing dept at Telstra that stops the truely good stuff getting through.
I recently heard that a senior marketing dept person at Telstra was quoted as saying that Telstra is much more conservative now than they were a few years back. She went on to say they weren’t after ‘out there’ work and didn’t want it to be even presented to her. That explains The Monkeys latest work. And the work from their other roster agencies for that matter in the last few years. Can’t blame them. Telstra are getting the calibre of work they really want.
In the end, clients get the work they deserve.
did anyone read “Mark’s role has no bearing on Telstra’s existing marketing team or day-to-day campaigns. He has a wide-ranging brief that will span many parts of the company including innovation, products and technology.” advertising is the least interesting part of his brief. jealous mark. what a great opportunity to move out of the myopic navel gazing bitchiness of the comments above. creativity is big than advertising and a 30 second tvc. now you have the chance to prove it. these sorts of roles have been happening overseas for years. good on telstra for leading the way here and best of luck mark!
CHANGE IN THE WIND.
Mr Collis,
Wish you all the very best on this venture, it’s awesome news for the industry. Finally creatives have someone to look up to, nay, a future to aspire to over and above becoming a CD trying to please suits who are trying to please marketing directors who are trying to please CEOs who are trying to please shareholders.
Well done, you’ve lifted the whole creative industry’s value overnight.
Pig-lense.
One of my clients has a “creative influencer” but unlike Mark Collis this individual has no track record whatsoever of creativity and is in my opinion either a con man or simply the worst creative I’ve ever met.
Well at least Telstra is employing marketing savvy people to head up their communications, unlike the couple of muppets Westpac employed last year. Good on you guys.
Bad timing for Alex and Yanni. Those guys could have done with a guy like you at the helm five months ago. They produced some of the best spots I’ve ever seen for Telstra.
Why does everyone assume mark’s role there is a marketing one? There is much more to selling a product than just marketing. Public perception plays a huge roll.
Smart move by an obscenely political, indecisive and wasteful marketing department. I know – I work on the business. Good luck to him, I hope they give him some real power
9.49. Are you Alex or Yanni?
Agencies are done. This has been coming for years. More and more smart marketing companies will go down this road. Good move Telstra.
It’s going to be fun watching this one unravel.
Anyone who’s got prior of the protagonists involved will know that this is going to quickly become a farce of epic Benny Hill Xmas Special proportions.
All those deluded souls wittering on about how this represents Telstra’s commitment to creativity clearly have no knowledge of the characters forming the cast.
This represents another layer of bureaucracy and that’s it but what a bureaucracy!
it’s going to make The Office look tame and lame.
When does it start?
If the client stops playing both creative director & target audience and actually utilises Collis for his experience and knowledge, then this can only lead to great work with all of the rostered agencies. Telstra have the budget and the firepower, they just need to get out of their own way!
Surely that means he goes to Cannes
Was Mark at Leo Burnett 2006-2008? It’s just an exact replica storyboard of Australian Muso Ben Lee’s latest Space Monkey video landed on my desk end of 2007-beginning 2008. Surely it did not take Burnett’s two to three years to find the right song? Wasn’t Mark really creative with music-ad branding? I guess Leo’s have every right to store great visual concepts for a few years..
Disclosure – I used to work at Patts so am biased.
However…..its fascinating to watch developments. We were abused , patronised and then fired because “the new management team only accepts world class work”. They then appointed a couple of ‘hot’ agencies and have proceeded to spend the next two years doing work that without exception is of a poor standard. They are welcome to each other.
Don’t underestimate the marketing dept. They’re extremely adaptable and know how to play the political game. When Sol was there they were vocal in their support – when he left….
Same with Mark . They’ll make it their business to get on with him, God knows they realise they need the help as the work is so self evidently weak.
May 4, 2010 10:40 PM – I can’t believe you actually wrote that. “Agencies are done” what a load of rubbish. Marketers have tried and failed to build their own in-house agencies. They just don’t get the independant and objective thinking the business needs when everyone is working under the one roof. Agencies are done – I think you’ll find that there are more around now than 5 years ago.
Good lord.
The Telslut account has been through just about every agency in town. Ask anyone who’s worked on it and they’ll list this client as one of the worst. They constantly bang on about wanting “world class creative” and then systematically kill all the good ideas until they hit the shit at the bottom of the barrel.
Perhaps this appointment is because they have finally recognised they have no fucking idea what they’re doing.
There’s three ways this could go:
1. Telstra marketing dept continues to make stupid decisions and they give Collis a fat paycheck to agree with them, thereby providing ‘proof’ they know what world class creative looks like.
2. Collis finds himself in a complete career-killing mind-fuck between the agencies putting up good work and the client still not buying it, all the while having to prove his worth by also chucking out every second idea, thereby ostracising himself from the industry he loves.
3. Collis agrees with the agency recommendations on what actually IS a great idea, then convinces the client to actually TRUST their agency.
Place your bets, ladies and gentlemen.
The biggest political game in advertising history is about to begin.
Lose one member of the marketing team and everything will go smoothly.
4:02: are you drunk? 3dm’s telstra work is gold.
(Mistake…Not 4.02)
9.41: You cannot polish a turd, so please stop trying.
What this appointment clearly shows is that questions are , rightly, being asked about the quality of the marketing leadership at Telstra. The new broom has had carte blanche for two years, made a lot of promises and underdelivered. One answer is every agency in Australia is useless – another is that the client is useless. Take your pick.
I wonder if you’ll all hate yourselves when you follow the leader and move client side? They pay better, so you’ll probably find a way to sleep at night.
Sounds like a pretty cool job to me.
Good luck Mark.
“4:02: are you drunk? 3dm’s telstra work is gold.”
Let’s not get be too hasty now.
Good luck mark, you can’t put a good man down. I agree with 9.24, our value as creatives can be seen in a new light. The biggest part of our job is strategy, and it’s easier to persuade clients to change when you’re on the inside, rather than the outside. Wish you well.
Is a client fucked if they don’t except the first idea that’s put in front of them?
@11:49
I’m sure you meant to say ‘accept’ (to approve of) rather than ‘except’ (to leave out). They’re pretty much opposites. You’re giving us mixed messages here.
Hey, hang on a minute, maybe you really ARE the client!
Maybe Collis can stop the crap Telstra work like: ‘Call Your Mum’. This had Telstra marketing dept written all over it. I think if he’s going to get anything done he needs to sort out a bit of education for the marketing dept first. God forbid they’d leave any creative making decisions up to him.
to 11.49am.
the client is fucked when you deliver 4 ideas that are all spot on and they don’t buy any, they then re-write the brief on you, make you present another 4 concepts, they pretend they like 1, go through the countless layers in their office, brand, marketing, segment, legal blah blah, then they water the idea down until it resembles shit, continually change for weeks what they made you do and make out that you made them do it, get the shits when you tell them it doesn’t work, they then sit on the job for a month, make the job active again, make you do more changes then finally put the job on definite hold or cancel it full stop.
Now that my friend, Is a fucked client.
That client’s name?
Telstra.
Worst client on earth, with a marketing department who either have no idea, are scared of their superiors so they don’t want to do good work or who are playing the game to push their way up the ladder and don’t give a shit about the work in the first place.
Their idea of “world class work” is a joke, compared to world class work.
I hate, hate, hate them.
Good luck Mark.
2.03 Is that you Belgio?
2.03
Mate, thank you. Soooo funny.
It’s comments like those that make my day.
2.03 – your use of the word segment gave you away.. someone is a tad bitter. You should use your probably fairly decent salary to buy some perspective or get another job.
2.03pm – couldn’t have put it better myself.
Jealous, childish, industry-harming, anonymous barbs are usually the standard comments on the CB blog, but yours was an honest insight into the fustration and struggles that go hand-in-hand with dealing with a client/marketing department that, quite simply, have no idea.
Well said.
Look, normally there is bitterness on this site, but come on everyone – you have to acknowledge that Telstra have dished out a lot of pain and suffering – for no reason at all. The comments we see today aren’t rooted in bitterness. They are from people who have had direct dealings with Telstra. It is a fact that they are a disgrace to client/agency relationships. Thodey preaches one thing and his underlings do the opposite. Zero integrity.
Riddle me this…
If you go to a University campus, amongst the least creative individuals you will come across are those studying Marketing. (This may be perceived as a harsh observation – but be honest, it’s true.)
And yet, normally these are the people who end up client side, and therefore judge, jury and executioner when in comes to creative work.
Does that make any sense at all to anyone else?
Hey 3.25, he’s not bitter, he’s honest.
Well, if you can’t beat ’em (and it sounds like you can’t) there’s only one course of action.
Sally. 1.15 pm. You work at Optus? Hmmmm.
8.31 am Agree! Inhouse agencies never work and never will. Speak to the CBA’s experiment with inhouse.
6.40 pm. There’s a lot of old hacks on here commenting anonymously with little to show for their own achievement. Get a life and retire gracefully.
3.49 pm “doesn’t like dudes that dress like chicks either.” Have the balls to post without being anonymous. Neanderthal.
I was in the city (Melbourne) at lunchtime. Protesting out the front of the Telstra concept store were about 100-200 Telstra workers. Now, I’m as right-wing as fuck and normally hate the unions etc. But it got me thinking: If Telstra mistreats its own, what hope do its agencies have?
When Apple appoints a creativity guru, I buy it. When Telstra does, I laugh. However talented and determined Mark may be, big organisations with poisonous cultures always win out in the end.
Well done Mark. That’s great news.
I’ve worked with Collis. I don’t like him.
I have an account with Telstra. I don’t like them.
I say they deserve each other.
Like attracts like.
Have fun.
You could substitute Vodafone for Telstra and the comments would still stand.
It’s a phone/internet etc. People and bsinesses really need them.
Why do telcos make it so stressful, miserable and hard?
5:42PM I think I love you. I hope you are female. If not let’s have a beer. I have an Optus account. Let me tell you they suck balls too. I reckon Mark should go hard and do the Optus “NO” Campaign. It’s very Aussie… Get fucked Optus. Go price war! Then we would all have more money to spend going to the pub instead of having to stay in due to H.S.G.F.C. (Hand Set Golbal Finacial Crisis) An extra $270 a month would get us all laid more often and not have to blog. Imagine if Telstra could charge us for blogging! (They’ll figure it out eventually) Fuck I could have done that (Job)!
Sent from my expensive phone
Let’s line up Bobbi’s international awards with the anon poster trying to take a crack – oh I guess we couldn’t because you don’t have any. Go get some talent and a life while you are at.
I love the way Telstra make out they want world class work and Cannes Lions. They truly are a horrible poisonous group of people.
5:42PM I think I love you. I hope you are female. If not let’s have a beer. I have an Optus account. Let me tell you they suck too. I reckon Mark should go hard and do the Optus “NO” Campaign. Go price war! Then we would all have more money to spend going to the pub instead of having to stay in due to H.S.G.F.C. (Hand Set Golbal Finacial Crisis) An extra $270 a month would get us all laid more often and not have to blog. Imagine if Telstra could charge us for blogging! (They’ll figure it out eventually) F#*k I could have done that (Job)!
Sent from my expensive phone
Re: 3.49, i’m a Ryan who deals with Telstra and thought i’d better point out it wasn’t me that sledged marketing folk from uni days. i don’t even remember uni..!
although i vaguely recall failing and being kicked out after the best 10 years of my life.
What a waste of fucking money.
Collis will spend half his time jetting around the world (his favorite pastime, I worked with him) and the other half being dined by agencies desperate to get his nod of approval.
All the while, a bunch of morons continue to run the company into the ground. They haven’t made a good ad in years and without research the cretins couldn’t make a decision if you put a pistol to their empty, vacuous heads.
Over the last few years they’ve split one single brand amongst pretty well every agency in Sydney – except of course the lucky ones with the competition, who, I might ad, are fucking years ahead in terms of quality. I mean, Optus just approved a Nike ad for fuck’s sake.
Fire the lot of them.
Replace them with half the amount, preferably from decent brands.
Stick telstra back into one agency, two at most.
Let Collis go back into a big agency.
Mark Collis and Todd Sampson were not mates, as mentioned. Actually, when Mark Collis departed Leo Burnett, Todd Sampson remarked that some CDs had lost the fire in the belly required of younger teams. However, WWF’s original 2007 Earth Hour was Collis’ idea and it was Collis that steered the Titanium winning Cherub Pictures’ commercial directed by Justin Kurzel. Collis’ quote at that time was:
“Every finger on every switch makes a difference. It’s a little hippyish perhaps, but this is about real, old-fashioned people power”
I wonder if Telstra had any idea this is what the advertising industry (that is obviously severly scarred), really thinks of them and their company.
It’s a well known fact that agencies do the best work on brands they love and for clients they respect.
From most of the 80 comments on this blog it seems respect for this client from the industry – is a long way away.
One can only hope that Mr Collis may help claw some of this respect back for one of Australia’s largest advertisers and for that matter – consumers of strategic and creative head hours.
Lets be honest Telstra does pay for a few BMW leases around town. It would be nice if that resulted in less scarred people and more passion for building a great brand.
Seriously – if you read this you would think that every agency does an amazing job with every brief. I am pretty sure this is not the case and not every single one of you is the genius you think you are. Perhaps your work was rejected or changed because it was average.
yeah – Telcos (and banks) may be a pain in the neck but would you prefer an FMCG brief that you work on for 6 months, research the hell out of, take direction from women in the suburbs who buy the stuff only if it is on special and not due to the advertising. or you do a new voice over on an ad produced for Asia Pacific for P&G.
get over it.
obviously you haven’t worked on telstra for a period of time 9.50.
or at all.
read the 85 comments above you again, then fuck off.
9.50
I have worked on both Telstra and P & G as referenced in your comment.
From my experience, Tesltra’s response to any advertising idea (even the not-so risque) seems to be ‘There might be a backlash’ trans: ‘We might get noticed’.
P & G are nearly as bad, but not quite.
“You still don’t understand what you’re dealing with, do you?
Perfect organism. Its structural perfection is matched only by its hostility…
I admire its purity. A survivor… unclouded by conscience, remorse, or delusions of morality…
Last word… I can’t lie to you about your chances, but… you have my sympathies.”
Maybe you lot should spend less time writing on blogs and more time thinking of good, usable ideas to give to your clients… then you might get some work up.
Good move Telstra. Good luck Collis.
Ah yes, 2:01… spoken like a true suit.
I guess the real question is: How do YOU possibly find time between all the bullying and bum-kissing to be here yourself?
Oh, that’s a great idea 2:01. Let’s ban the CB blog, the internet, electricity…
I worked with him a long time ago.
I was pleased to see his name on some of my work.
It was great to see.
Really fucking special.
David Thodey should be reading this – he needs to know how poisonous his marketing department is.
Accept clients for what they are rather than what you wish they were. Telstra is a massive business operating in an incredibly complex and dynamic world. They are subject to a ridiculous amount of scrutiny and probably have the most diverse customer-base in the country. Tough gig for marketers. Cut them some slack.
They recognise they have a problem. They have tried implementing a solution. Hopefully it will help. It may not. I’ve worked for a lot of clients far smaller than Telstra in far less complex industries and markets and they were also rude, scared, unoriginal and useless.
Its a choice. Many many large clients choose to treat their partners well. Others don’t. Telstra unfortunately have a narcissistic talentless bully in charge. When that changes there is no reason for the agencies to feel abused – and the work will get better.
Did someone say narcissistic talentless bully?
You getting this, Thodey?
I remember a while ago a very wise Creative Director said to me ‘there is no such thing as a bad client, only a bad agency.’
If you can’t educate or sell to your clients, how the fuck are you going to sell Telstra to an Optus customer in your ‘Fun, Friends and Family’ segment paying half price?
Good luck Mark, hope it goes well.
Karma train,,,, woo Whoo… I’m coming for you
amanda
Not only are they the nastiest people I’ve worked for, they are also the most stupid.
4:30
Why don’t you forward the thread on to David Thodey and see what happens, or do you really work on the Telstra account and dont want to be involved when all these comments come back to haunt you
10:07
Don’t work on the Telstra account, but it would be an interesting perspective for Thodey. Wouldn’t you agree?
4:30
I agree send it on see what the response is
I was there when the Telstra person got booed off the stage in Cannes. Painful.