Comments on: Saatchi & Saatchi Australia snares Mandie van der Merwe and Avish Gordhan from Dentsu Creative for joint Chief Creative Officer roles

By: Ben Coulson

Ben Coulson — Mon, 25 Sep 2023 22:42:54 +0000

Hey guys…I’m here now…all the best Avish & Mandie

By: The watcher

The watcher — Sun, 24 Sep 2023 02:09:42 +0000

Keen to see what the work looks like.
Better be good.

By: Dentsu in trouble.

Dentsu in trouble. — Fri, 22 Sep 2023 13:18:45 +0000

Word on the street is another 2 year stayer is going to head up Dentsu in Melbourne. She’ll suit you perfectly Dentsu. Good luck to all..

By: dancingqueen

dancingqueen — Fri, 22 Sep 2023 04:41:04 +0000

No notable work delivered in 11 months, they may have seen the writing on the wall and made the exit before it was pushed from the other side.

By: TD

TD — Fri, 22 Sep 2023 04:01:35 +0000

I’m fairly sure we are not talking Millennials or Gen Z in this instance,so not an acceptable explanation for their decision.

By: Hamburgler

Hamburgler — Fri, 22 Sep 2023 03:20:30 +0000

I’m nicking that.

By: Sometimes...

Sometimes... — Thu, 21 Sep 2023 11:57:46 +0000

It’s easier to wear shoes than cover the world in carpet.

By: Leandro

Leandro — Thu, 21 Sep 2023 11:47:47 +0000

Good luck, M&A!

By: @Just to clarify again / ex Creative Leader

@Just to clarify again / ex Creative Leader — Thu, 21 Sep 2023 11:40:39 +0000

Agree wholeheartedly. And a CCO title rarely holds the weight it should. My original point was simply there are many reasons a CCO may not be able to change an agency, and if management aren’t supporting them in doing that, it’s best to leave. Sadly, often, the CCO is the whipping boy for everything going wrong with an agency without any department examining themselves as being – at least – part of the problem. All the best to you.

By: Just to clarify again.

Just to clarify again. — Thu, 21 Sep 2023 09:56:26 +0000

Sorry if I sounded angry.
I’m not.
I think your comment that something
‘is often just a title’ highlights the problem.
There are now too many titles ,too liberally distributed.
Many times they’re given by management to stave off a pay rise,appease egos or to retain talented personnel.
And the recipients don’t fully understand the responsibilities that come with their new title and what the expectations are.
CCO is one of the loftiest of those titles.
It requires resilience and long term commitment.
Which is why it is so incredibly well rewarded and the best ones are revered.

By: Enough!

Enough! — Thu, 21 Sep 2023 09:39:45 +0000

Maybe they just saw the writing on the wall. Who knows. Who cares? Let’s get back to whinging about pale white men.

By: It's pretty simple, right?

It's pretty simple, right? — Thu, 21 Sep 2023 09:00:58 +0000

Good people, good money, good work. You can get by on two of those.

By: @@ex creative leader

@@ex creative leader — Thu, 21 Sep 2023 06:51:29 +0000

Good agencies seem to avoid most of this. Take W+K. BMF. There are many others.

By: @ex creative leader

@ex creative leader — Thu, 21 Sep 2023 04:47:42 +0000

Entirely correct, but you possibly deliberately missed the point. If you’re a creative leader and management aren’t working with you to make things better, you’ve got a very tough road ahead of you. Best of luck.

By: @Juse to clarify.

@Juse to clarify. — Thu, 21 Sep 2023 04:45:49 +0000

No need to get angry. C-suite support means everyone in the C-suite. If you’ve noticed, ‘Chief’ or formerly ‘Executive’ is often just a title, especially if you’re vetoed by the CEO, MD or founder.

By: Just to clarify.

Just to clarify. — Thu, 21 Sep 2023 02:15:45 +0000

According to @ Blame game, ‘even the toughest creative leaders can’t fix without C-Suite support’.
The flaw in that argument is that in this instance they WERE C-Suite themselves.It was part of their title as CCOs.
That first C stands for chief.
Just as it does in C-Suite.
And presumably their salaries were commensurate with that status.
A tenure of 11 months seems imprudent.

By: Tourism?

Tourism? — Wed, 20 Sep 2023 14:22:33 +0000

Perhaps S&S have hired them because of the tender that’s coming up on Tourism Australia? Saatchi’s are hedging the regions bet’s on a hope that this duo might swing it for them based on their work at M&C.

By: nothing to see here

nothing to see here — Wed, 20 Sep 2023 11:47:24 +0000

This happens all the time, yes it’s earlier than usual but the outcome of a mature conversation and mutual respect. Look at Stu Turner’s recent 8 months at Edge? Everyone will be ok, i’m sure.

By: JM

JM — Wed, 20 Sep 2023 09:06:46 +0000

Congrats Guys, You’ll no doubt kill it.

By: @ex creative leader

@ex creative leader — Wed, 20 Sep 2023 08:51:49 +0000

Where is this magical agency that doesn’t tick any of the items on your non-negotiables list? In my experience, every agency has at least one – some several, a few all of the above. The lack of any sounds like a magical unicorn that I’m not sure exists.

By: @@Blame game

@@Blame game — Wed, 20 Sep 2023 08:07:52 +0000

Spot on.

By: @Blame game

@Blame game — Wed, 20 Sep 2023 07:18:11 +0000

Not at all, but it takes all departments working together to make great work and my point was, there are some things even the toughest creative leaders can’t fix without c-suite support. Again, I can’t comment on the individual situation and nor would I want to. Best of luck to you.

By: Cuts both ways

Cuts both ways — Wed, 20 Sep 2023 06:54:54 +0000

I think every industry needs to get used to short-term tenures, including ours.

I know that Gen Z and some Millennials are more cutthroat and decisive about the places they work within for one very big reason. Life is too short.

If you’re not making inroads after 12 months in a role, leave and find somewhere that is going to work, or at least align with your strengths.

It does of course work both ways. Sometimes it’s the company not providing enough opportunity, and sometimes it’s the individual not living up to the task they have been given.

The comment about “when S&S come knocking” was probably not the best thing to say in the overall context of the short stay, however.

By: @enough

@enough — Wed, 20 Sep 2023 05:56:38 +0000

Why? They are.

By: Blame game

Blame game — Wed, 20 Sep 2023 05:44:46 +0000

So it’s everybody else’s fault that it didn’t work out, except the ‘creative leaders’.

By: Ex creative leader

Ex creative leader — Wed, 20 Sep 2023 05:00:52 +0000

I can’t speak for these guys or Dentsu, but I can speak to my own experience. Sometimes creative leaders aren’t given the reigns to do anything decent. It could be founder’s syndrome, an overbearing CEO, a creatively-frustrated planner, petty politics, a CFO giving you unworkable budgets for staff or production, blame-shifting from heads of departments or simply a culture of shit psychics, where everyone predicts what they think a client will buy (forget the audience!). It could be a ‘collaborative’ culture where nobody understands their role and therefore nobody does their job. In my case, I’ve seen all of the above. My advice to any creative leader going through just one of these things, who has raised it with the C-Suite and not been heard or supported – leave. You might think somehow you alone can make the difference, but you’ll probably just burn out trying. Best of luck Mandie and Avish, what a great opportunity.

By: HR

HR — Tue, 19 Sep 2023 23:45:55 +0000

Wouldn’t want this one not to work.

By: Who cares what it 'looks like'

Who cares what it 'looks like' — Tue, 19 Sep 2023 23:35:49 +0000

Honestly, ad land is so caught up in what other people think. It’s their life, their career…. do what you want, who gives a flying feck what anyone else thinks

By: Promises

Promises — Tue, 19 Sep 2023 23:23:21 +0000

Same promise that were made to Fred.
And everyone else good and gone

By: Same

Same — Tue, 19 Sep 2023 21:40:05 +0000

What makes someone a legend here?