30 from 30. The people who have helped shape the industry and Campaign Brief: Howard Read

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.

Howard Read was already well known as the Managing Director of Marketforce when he succeeded Colin Mullins as chairman in 1991. As MD and then Chairman, he led the agency through some tumultuous times with his confident, ebullient style.

Over that period, three groups of senior staff left to start their own agencies – 303, Gatecrasher and Meerkats. Any one of those had the potential to cripple Marketforce but Read just worked harder to ensure it maintained its position as the leading agency in town.

In 1995 Read agreed to become patron of the PADC when it needed some serious heavyweight business presence to get other sponsors besides The West Australian on board. Far from being a ‘call me when you need me’ patron, Read was actively engaged and even personally helped the Club out financially in its darkest hours.

In 2004, the national Caxton Awards & weekend came to Broome, the first and only time the national awards for newspaper advertising came to WA. Read was the only Perth agency chairman to attend and mixed effortlessly with his own agency’s staff, those from other agencies, and with senior media executives in attendance. Even in his final year at Marketforce and knowing he was about to step back from his full-time role, he was as passionate about creativity and committed to the industry as at any time in his career.

He also knew how to have a good time and understood completely that this business is too hard not to have a laugh along the way – often at himself. It was a quality that Campaign Brief appreciated, as did his staff.

For our 20th anniversary special edition, Howard wrote a wonderful reflection on the industry and the many changes he had witnessed.

And when it came time for his own departure, he managed his own exit and handover to John Driscoll smoothly and seamlessly, ensuring disruption to the agency whose success he had been so integral to was minimal.

A great leader to his agency, a trusted confidante to his clients and a respected rival to his competitors, Howard Read was a man for all seasons and a true statesman of the industry.