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

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.

Back up the chronological scale to recent times for this one.

When Adam Marshall left OMD last year to become Head of Trading with Mindshare Asia Pacific, Marketforce Chairman John Driscoll said: “In his relatively short time in Perth, Adam has made a significant impact on the media landscape in this town. He has been a great leader at OMD and his efforts and success are only outweighed by his expense account and his appetite to have a good time.”

Our kinda guy!

Marshall came to Perth at the beginning of 2006 when he and fellow UK ex-pat Mark Pinney joined Initiative. Back then, Initiative handled The Brand Agency’s media, and the pair was located in-house at The Brand.

He and Pinney quickly made names for themselves as excellent media thinkers, so much so that when they made noise about leaving, The Brand Agency parted company with Initiative and opened a local office of STW Group media brand Maxus, headed up by Marshall & Pinney.

In 2008 he made the jump to Head of Account Service at Brand. That didn’t go so well but at least it confirmed that he’s a media man first and foremost. At the end of 2009, Marketforce tapped him to head up their media agency, OMD. Brand MD Steve Harris wasn’t happy, and legal action followed that delayed his start for a few months.

He quickly made up for lost time, winning business and two successive Campaign Brief Media Agency of the Year awards.

Over his 8 years in Perth, Marshall was involved in some highly innovative and astute media strategies. Clever usage of outdoor for iinet, a unique cricket sponsorship for RAC (that was a pain in the bum for Channel Nine but beaut for the client); and the Off The Boot regional football program on WIN for the Office of Road Safety are just a few.

He also showed a great willingness to get involved in the industry more broadly. He was (briefly) Patron of the PADC; a member and then Chair of the Oasis Ball Committee; and actively participated in education and training programs with AdSchool, ECU and Curtin.

He wrote many thoughtful, informative and highly readable articles for Campaign Brief (as, it must be said, did Pinney), often submitted on his own initiative: “Had a few thoughts about…and thought you might be interested.” We always were.

Driscoll was right: Adam Marshall did make significant impact in a relatively short time here and in our third decade, he has certainly been one of the key figures in the industry.