30 from 30. The people who have helped shape the industry and Campaign Brief: Adam Barker

For Campaign Brief WA’s 30th anniversary, over the thirty days of June we’re looking back on 30 people who helped shape the industry and us.

Thoughtful, reflective, intelligent – Adam Barker (far left) once told CB if he hadn’t worked in advertising he most likely would have pursued a career in academia teaching literature.

To be sure, Barker’s work has always had literary quality about it, in the tradition of some of the great English copywriters.

Barker leapt to prominence at JMAO&M, with ‘Darkie, Coon…’ but he also produced a range of excellent work for clients like AnsettWA, the WA Tourism Commission and Home Building Society.

He left Perth briefly for a stint in Melbourne, while his creative ‘soul mate’ Lori Canalini (pictured above with Barker) went to Singapore. It was big news when they came back to Perth at the end of 1994 to join 303 as that agency’s third team. However, the duo had little to work on there so in mid 1996 they left to join Marketforce, where they would spend the next 5 years, 3 of them as joint CDs.

It was at Marketforce they produced perhaps the best work of their careers, particularly for the Cancer Foundation,  and some of the best in the storied history of that agency.

Barker & Canalini were prominent amongst the group of creatives that made the years around 1997/98/99 some of the most exciting ever. They, along with JDA’s Matt Cullen & Gary Tranter, 303’s Mike Edmonds & Dale Simmonds, and Vinten Browning’s Steve Browning and Wayne Vinten set a new standard for this city.

In Campaign Brief’s second decade, Barker was clearly Perth’s top creative. In our Rankings for the years 1995 – 2003, he went #3, #1, #2, #3, #1, #1, #1, #1 .

In July 2001, Barker, Canalini and account director Tony Scampoli left Marketforce and started Gatecrasher.

Since then he has ridden the rollercoaster that is part-and-parcel of agency ownership but his ‘In Book’ at D&AD this year shows he still produces great work.

Barker has dutifully taken his turns at leading AWARD School and the PADC and been always been ready to lend a hand to CB when we’ve asked. He and Canalini created a brilliant campaign featuring legends Lionel Hunt, Neil French and Paul Fishlock for our Campaign Brief Awards.

In many respects Barker is an unlikely ad man: softly spoken, understated and more inclined to listen than talk (perhaps that’s why he’s such a great writer) but he has been an important figure in the development of the industry in Perth and is one of CB’s favourites.