DISCUSSION: WHO IS PERTH’S BEST ‘SUIT’?
Sir Frank Lowe is probably the world’s most respected account manager the ad industry has seen. During his heyday, first at CDP London and then at Lowe Howard Spink in the 80s, he built a huge reputation as the forceful account director behind Tesco, Stella and Heineken. One of the heavyweights of world advertising, his contribution to creativity was recognised in 1988 when he became the first (and only) account man to be honoured with the D&AD President’s Award. He is also the only ‘suit’ ever to preside over the Film jury at Cannes – and the last, as that year he very controversially refused to allow a Grand Prix to be awarded.
Lowe’s reputation is part of UK advertising folklore with many great stories of his presence and former workmate, Dave Trott, tells a story of a creative director running into the corridor at CDP with a Tesco script he was pleased with. Frank Lowe (then CEO) was walking past and the CD showed him the script. Lowe said, “It’s terrific. Which director should we get to film it, Alan or Ridley?” (as in Alan Parker or Ridley Scott), The CD said, “Hang on Frank, we’ve got to research it first.” Lowe said, “I’ve just done that. Who should we get to film it Alan or Ridley?”
Stefano Hatfield, the former editor of UK trade magazine Campaign, and now media writer at The Independent tells a joke in a story about Lowe that illustrates the heights his reputation in London reached: Sir Frank Lowe gets into the lift at an agency party. Before the doors close, a young secretary slips through. “So Frank, how about a blow-job?” she asks cheekily. Sir Frank looks her up and down and replies: “what’s in it for me?”
Campaign Brief is not sure how many of Perth’s account managers would react the same way, but these stories all interested us to try and find out who is, or was, Perth’s best account service person.
To kick off the debate we contacted five of Perth’s longest serving creative directors and asked for their opinion on who is the best ‘suit’ they have worked with. Naturally, we didn’t allow them to go for anyone they currently work with.
Gatecrasher’s Adam Barker says unlike some items of apparel, when it comes to suits, there’s no such thing as one size fits all. “It’s the same with the advertising variety. There are different shapes of ‘great suit’: the ones who are brilliant strategically, the ones who are brilliant at detail (or client relationships, or proactivity etc). They’re all vital skills within an agency and it’s wrong to laud one skill over another. If you’ve got any of these things going for you as a suit, your job’s almost certainly safe. But, what takes a suit to the next level (whatever their fundamental skill is) is a passion for and commitment to the quality of the agency’s creative product. That is the mark of a truly great suit. And, I’ve been lucky enough to work with a number of people who have that passion combined with at least one of the strengths mentioned above: Iain Rowe, Paul Yole, Kym Scampoli and Silvana Visononi, just to name a few. They’re all ‘great’ and I couldn’t possibly single one out.”
Lindsay Medalia says that at 303 John Downing always brought a sense of calm and intelligence to the table. “Perhaps because he had worked on both sides of the fence he could inspire creatives and clients alike. His genius lay in the common sense manner in which he applied his encyclopaedic knowledge of marketing. He is also the most avid reader I know – so most meetings had the bonus of a book club chat.”
BC&Y’s Richard Clarke votes for former Marketforce director IanTassell. “Ian had a capacity to instil in the client the confidencethat he had their best interests at heart and would take responsibilityfor ensuring that the contributions of others within the agency,including the creatives’, would be as carefully considered and sound.He was also extremely affable and developed genuinely strong,professional relationships with each client, many of whom became realfriends.”
Marketforce creative group head, Ric Cairns, can’t go past the leadcharacter in the legendary story of ‘The Fish Who Came Back FromLunch’: “At FCB Shorter in the early ’90s, Simon McQuoid and I wereworking on the launch campaign for Perrini shoes. We’d been toilingaway on the full page press for quite some time and I had a headlinefor it that was kind of working, and we were pretty much about to gowith it when Alan Taylor (‘The Fish’ in our undergraduate parlance ofthe day) came back from lunch and saw it. He gave it that intake ofbreath through the grimacing teeth, and discussion ensued about pushingthe work a bit harder. As crushing as it can be to hear that someonedoesn’t consider your solution to be Gold Lion material, this isexactly what a good suit does: they challenge you and drive you to dosomething great.
“The very best ones have the understanding of creative to back up theirchallenges – they’re not just saying no because it makes them lookserious and responsible, but because they recognise the idea isn’tthere yet. As a runner-up in AWARD School himself (he never let usforget that one…), Alan was an unusually empathetic suit, with agenuine love of creativity and a good eye for a concept. He also had aknack for keeping the process fun and light, which makes for anurturing atmosphere for creativity. We always knew he was our ally.And while I may not have appreciated his back-to-the-drawing-boardresponse at first, I did when the rewritten headline earnt me a PADCFellowship. Thanks, Fish.”
To Mike Edmonds from Meerkats, a good account director doesn’t have to be a strategic genius.
“They just have to enjoy being with creative people. Enjoy meeting withthem, enjoy briefing them and especially… ohhh especially… enjoylistening to them when we’re putting our ideas out there. Because it’smotivating and infectious. Everyone around them catches it, clientsincluded.
“One guy who was always wonderfully excited whenever he was in the roomwith creatives was Alan Matthews. Not the Merchants Alan Matthews, theJMA Alan Matthews. The “Let’s All Go To Lunch And Drink Moet And ThenLeave Ron Jenkin With The Bill” Alan Matthews. I once showed Alan somevideo of British actor Peter Bowles in the famous BBC series To TheManor Born. I was trying to give a flavour of the TV script I had inmind. Alan laughed out loud at my scripts, slapped his thigh, stood upand declared we had to get THE Peter Bowles for the shoot. And we did.
“Peter and his wife flew out to Perth for a week and shot some terrificdialogue spots. The campaign generated tons of interest, the client wasthrilled, the ads won awards and the shoot is one of the most treasuredmemories of my 30 years in the business.” (Bowles is pictured left on the Perth shoot with a very young Mike Edmonds and Dale Simmonds, who now works at The Brand Agency).
Now let’s get your opinion.
Who is, or has been, Perth’s best account service person and why?
What qualities make a great account serviceperson?
There have also been a lot of characters over the years. Have you got anygood anecdotes or funny ‘suit’ stories (past or present) that you can relay?
Please, let’s keep this constructive, entertaining, light-hearted and non-bitchy.
25 Comments
I have to know… what was the campaign that Mike used Peter Bowles for?
It would probably be easier to start by suggesting the names of those who, by their own actions throughout their careers, have ruled themselves out of this contest. Once this deluge of inefficient, self-serving, unimaginative toadying wasters has been thoroughly panned, we then can start looking for the real gold.
Hey Dale, you look about 12 in that photo. Do you still have those pants? I’m sure Mike still has that outfit!
Oh, my vote goes to Iain Rowe. He was brilliant with clients. Always. He had their trust and he knew what they would accept in terms of creative work. Everyone in the agency respected Iain.
Good nomination Richard. Ian Tassell ran all his accounts well. He got on with clients and earned their trust. He also was behind MF’s very first foray into becoming a creative agency when he hired two young creatives from Sydney. I have forgotten their names but in the year or so they were in Perth they did some great work.
Dear “Curious”. The campaign was for the Exchange Plaza building. And with Alan Matthews involved I’m sure we lost money on the job!
Here’s a suit joke.
A creative and a Suit were in Paris visiting a client. The creative asks the suit for directions to get to the client’s office, so the suit hands him a map of Europe.
It would be interesting to see what clients think. For mine, “Relationship suit” is Silvana Visinoni, “Strategic suit” is Iain Rowe, “Client loves them” suit is Erin Corner.
Perth needs more account directors that both have the respect of clients and are intuitive thinkers. People like John Downing had that respect and gave clients the confidence to trust the agency. I never worked with Iain Rowe but he obviously had those qualities too.
Most of this talk is about retired suits.
One problem with today’s suits is they have no presence in the industry and so everyone treats them as lightweight. Clients included. Everyone knows who the better creatives are but we can’t say the same of today’s suits. Look at the 3 biggest agencies. Off the top of your head who of any standing at all is below Al Taylor at 303? Apart from Silvana who is below Carrick and Gavin? At TBA there’s just Erin Corner below Steve Harris.
I don’t see too many other names being used in other comments so I think our ‘suit’ stocks must be at rock bottom.
Who was the person who said something along the lines of “why would I want to employ suits when we have motorcycle couriers”?
2.51. Agreed. They are rock bottom over here mate
OK, so another retired suit, but what about Brand’s Ken Painter. How many suits have filled a ballroom at their testimonial dinner (where ad people actually paid for their own food and booze) and then continue on in the industry running ad school, not for the money, but through a passion and dedication for the industry.
And another blast from the past, Yvonne Renshaw. Sacked by Clemenger and then took some of their biggest clients with her to start her own business.
Damn right. Ken Painter was (is) the best. What a great contribution he made to The Brand Agency. Let’s not forget that he sold that Turf Club campaign too. It is still one of Perth’s creative highlights. I am very surprised people at The Brand have not put his name forward more.
Alan Matthews!? Are you joking Mike Edmonds? The same Alan Matthews that was involved in Perth’s biggest crooked advertising scandal when he quickly resigned and fled Clemenger for Indonesia? The same Alan Matthews who Peter Clemenger would still like to catch up with? I don’t think so.
Maybe my memory has gone so I only remember the good things but here’s a list of people I think should be acknowledged here. Most people reading this story would probably not recognise the names but in my eyes they all had reputation of being good account service professionals..
Peter McAuliffe
John Davis
Ron McFarlane
Ian Tassell
Stephen Wells
Ken Painter
Yvonne Renshaw
Iain Rowe
Ken James
Brian Bowley
Kevin Leavy
David Chandler
Paul Yole
Anne Hunt
Debra Shorter
Roger McMillan
Well, being a relatively newcomer to this industry I can’t vouch for any ‘days of old glory’ – but in my few short years, I’m yet to come across a suit that doesn’t give-in (without argument) to any kind of client request, no matter how stupid or nonsensical. None.
I can’t say whether it’s a suit thing, a Perth thing, or just my limited point of reference – but it sure is pretty fucking frustrating.
I’m not sure that suits need a ‘presence in the industry’ (whatever that is) they would just benefit more, in my humble opinion, from engaging the client with creative work and having the confidence to say NO when a request is blindingly ridiculous.
Agreeing to let substandard work through is damaging to everyone, including the client (even if they can’t see that, yet).
2.59 – A suits job is to keep the client happy and make the agency money, not to prop up work that doesn’t hit brief just so you can have another crack at an award and maybe slide yourself up the CB rankings by a point. Creative Cloud Z must be a wonderful place to sit and dream sometimes when you don’t have to worry about budgets, timelines and clients yelling at you.
Here I was thinking a suits job was to achieve the best outcome for the client, not ‘keep them happy’.
This was always going to descend into us and them at some point. Running an agency and achieving great outcomes is about collaboration between all areas of the agency and the client. The best suits know that, and the best creative do as well. There is no room for us and them.
It takes years and much experience to get to the levels of most of the esteemed list mentioned above. In the end it is the respect you earn from your peers and your client that matters most. I reckon for the most part Perth suits do a pretty good job and there are plenty who are making their way up the ladder.
It is a tough gig, and there is frustration, but the experience I have had with most creative teams has been really enjoyable. Not all battles are won, but the ones you do win are the thing that keeps you going.
Perth suits that blame Perth clients for not supporting good ideas are in most cases just making excuses. It’s the same wherever you go, you get good clients and not-so-good clients. The sign of a good suit is the ability to earn the respect and trust of the client so that if there’s a difference of opinion about an idea or concept, they trust the agency’s recommendation. This is what we as suits should be striving for. It will result in better work, a better relationship with our creative teams and a better reputation for the agency. Some of the most memorable ad campaigns ever created were rejected by the client at concept stage.
So CB, how about a list of the best creatives in Perth based on Gavin’s definition above? Not the ones who spend days or weeks crafting their own escape route out of state via the national and international awards (we already know who you are, guys) But instead, those creatives who understand their clients, add to and improve the overall strategy, helping their agencies to retain and grow business on a day-by-day, month-by-month basis. I’m sure suits would have a few suggestions.
Here’s one 8:09, Andrew Tinning, I think most Perth clients would be thrilled to have him work on their business.
Most Perth clients, 10.06.am. But not Curtin, eh? And it’s the ones you win that matter to the agency bottom line.
I think it would be fair to say that, considering Curtin’s choice, the creative wasn’t terribly high on their agenda.
Back to the topic of this thread please.
Best creatives and the Curtin decision are for another time.