Carat and friends say hasta la vista to Tom Martin

Media agency Carat held a farewell for Tom Martin last Friday, January 30, as he retired from the industry after a 40 year career.

Originally a creative, Martin was a highly-regarded copywriter, a Marketforce Creative Director, founding partner of MJB&B, and a successful consultant for over 10 years including a stint in Singapore as CD at Tequila. Returning to Perth in 2003, he became head of government communications in WA, and then moved to Victoria in 2007 to take up the same role in that state. In 2010 he returned to Perth again and joined Carat as General Manager.

Agency managing director and good friend, Alan Matthews, paid tribute to Martin’s achievements in his speech:

“I coerced Tom to come and work for Mitchells (now Carat) and I am so glad that I did. You usually win and lose business in equal proportion over your career in media and advertising. Nothing stays the same for too long. And there is no such thing as a stable client list. We have been fortunate over the last five years and won business disproportionate to our losses. Tom has played no small part in shaping our thought leadership, our submissions, tenders, pitches and presentations to a higher creative standard than we would have otherwise. 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.”

Martin is planning to move to Spain in retirement.