Industry legend Tom Martin calls it a day

Having recently celebrated his 60th birthday, Tom Martin, General Manager of Carat, has today announced that he is retiring from the industry.

“I survived the 80s in advertising and my subsequent lifestyle choices means that 60 is the new 70. It’s been an amazing journey and over the next couple of months I look forward to sharing a few memories with the many people who’ve made it a great life”.

Those of us old enough to remember will know that Tom was a highly-regarded copywriter, a Marketforce Creative Director, founding partner of MJB&B, a successful consultant for over 10 years and head of government communications in both Perth and Melbourne, before joining Carat in 2010 as General Manager.

Alan Matthews said: “Frankly this is well overdue and welcome news as I have tired of placing anonymous post-it-note hints on his computer screen each morning.

“Seriously though, you don’t get away with just being good in this profession we call “marketing and media” – well not for very long anyway, you’ve got to be much better than that. To last the best part of 40 years and remain relevant, committed, respected and at times; highly awarded, and over a broad range of industry disciplines is an incredibly rare and enviable achievement. Tom is definitely one of a kind.

“We have been great mates for over thirty years but the last 5 have been the best; working with Tom at Mitchells and Carat has been a blast. Over the years we have worked together, played sport together, long-lunched together, fought together and at times each other, but throughout we have always remained the very best of friends.  I wish him a long and happy retirement of course, but I will really miss his ever-present humour, wit, wisdom and counsel on a daily basis”.