BMF hires Paddy Douneen as media director

Creative agency BMF is to push into media, with the appointment of a media director, in an Australian first for an ad agency of its size.  

Paddy Douneen, previously national advertising director for Fairfax’s integrated solutions offering, joined the agency this week. Prior to his five years at Fairfax, Douneen worked at media agencies in the UK and Australia including Ikon Communications, Universal @FCB, and MediaStar (now MPG). In Australia he also launched Mediacom out of Grey.

The appointment – which comes after more than four months of talks between Douneen and the agency – will renew questions about whether BMF is attempting to reinvent the full service agency model. Prior to media agencies launching in their own right about a decade ago, most media was planned and bought from within ad agencies.

Asked whether BMF, which was bought by Photon nearly two years ago, might turn to media buying, Douneen – who has years of experience in both media buying and planning  – told Mumbrella: “Who knows what might happen in the future. That’s obviously something we might consider down the track. For now it’s more an extension of what’s already here in terms of channel planning. Adding a media planning resource is a natural evolution to the whole BMF philosophy.”