One of the best known names in Australian advertising, Publicis Mojo, has snared one of the world's best known admen to spearhead a push to get more work from global companies.
Australian Craig Davis has been lured back to Australia to become co-chairman and chief creative officer for Mojo in Australia and New Zealand.
Mr Davis had held a similar global role at JWT based in New York but overseeing the creative output of the ad agency's worldwide network.
One of Mr Davis's crowing achievements was to come up with the philosophy that in order to be judged successful and needed to "buy the consumer's time", according to Mojo's statement released this morning.
Publicis Mojo Chairman Graeme Wills said Davis's appointment is integral to its plans to compete on the world stage.
"Craig's appointment sends a clear signal to the industry both here and internationally. Our ability to attract world-class talent like Craig is a credit to Mojo's standing and our ambition to be a truly international player," Mr Wills said.
Last year Mojo picked up a brief from Coca-Cola headquarters in Atlanta to develop work for its Diet Coke brand to be used around the world.
Formed by the Alan "Mo" Morris and Allan "Jo" Johnston, Mojo was one of the great names of Australian advertising in the 1980s when it created such memorable ad campaigns as `I feel like a Toohey's' and Qantas's `I Still Call Australia Home' line.
After a series of unsucessful mergers with other global advertising companies, Mojo was bought by the French advertising group Publicis in the mid 1990s. The local partners, Mr Wills and Nicholas Davie retain a shareholding in the company, which in the most recent accounts in the year to 2006 had revenues of $38 million. That year - the most recent accounts filed - the company posted a net profit of $157,000 down from $2.4 million in the previous year.
In thre last couple of years its profile has dropped. Peter McDonald of the consultants Agency Register said: "It's fair to say that they have come off the boil."
He said ventures such as a mobile phone marketing company set up in parntership with a former Telstra executive had "distracted" the management. "They like to retain a sense of mystery about themselves.. but this hire is a spectacular one for them," Mr McDonald said.
Mr Davis said his decision to join Publicis Mojo was driven by his desire to live with his young family in Australia but still be in the middle of world-leading creative work, according to a statement released by the agency today.
"I believe in zero geography - that you can live in Australia and work in the world. Mojo is an amazing brand and has a determination to compete and win against the world's best, and that's exactly what I want to do," Mr Davis said.
Mojo has offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Auckland and boasts clients such as Lion Nathan, Toyota and Coca-Cola.
jlee@smh.com.au
SMH
