Carat Sydney faces major leadership shake up as existing GM shifted to Mitchells

This is going to be tough on Sydney agencies who have come to rely on the ease of recruiting from Carat.

Seriously, who cares ? Even with “senior hires” their days are numbered, as are all other large media agencies reliant on excessive rebates to keep their heads afloat.

Enjoy your last few years Carat.

Carat have been a tough nut to crack not a unique view among media owners.

With such a great client base across the group fresh, real leadership is just what this business needs.

Whoever comes in will have a great first 12 months as it won’t take much to stand out in the crowd.

Paul is a great first step in the right direction hear. he manages up well and keeps an eye on his team. Both missing this last few years at Carat.

Good times ahead.

Can I have Andrews office until a replacement starts. The aircon out here is freezing 🙁

@ MCN

I second that.

@Shirley Basseys brother

Bassey mate, Your’e right, I just got in and it is bloody freezing in here, if nobody minds can I grabs Gus’s old office next to Andrews? Its also tidier 😀

This media agency trust thing is blown out of proportion.

If clients paid appropriate fees agencies would be able to be a lot more transparent.

An interesting move, probably more so at an interesting time. We all know journo’s love to and more so, need to create an angle for a story. The WOW account has not been won or lost, however if they were going to move, they usually apply the band-aid theory and do it quickly.

Having been a client of Carat previously I was nothing but impressed with the professionalism Andrew and Gus displayed dealing with us. Will be interesting to see who they replace them with but wish them all the success.

You know these are real people you guys are beating up, right?

@Jamie – I’m not sure you have your priorities right. Plus your values and general outlook on life are certainly warped. I’m not sure I would want to be one of your clients.

– Fabian N

Well said Fabian. Views like Jamie’s are killing the industry and certainly not representative of most businesses – I hope.

@Hasta La Vista
I doubt your bet on UM picking up Woolworths will be a winner, you know they have Coles right?!?!

@Jon – I second that.

Reading these comments, I hope that my team at Carat (who are very happy by the way) don’t take these negative comments to heart. I also hope that Gus & Andrew understand that there are lot of people here who wish them well in their new roles.

Having said that, the changes are exciting & there are a lot of people who are looking forward to a great future.

Everyone in this industry has ammunition to throw sh$t at their competitors, media partners and individuals – but that’s not our style.

Cmon Mumbrella, you are fast losing credibility by not publishing the rest of the comments.

Unless of course you intend to be a mouthpiece for media agencies who line your coffers.

I find it so weird when the media is accused f being paid off by media or creative agencies. The same people who complain are the same people who are vying for favour the week after.

Support the freedom of the speech but remain professional – with all the cheating and scamming we have seen recently its easy to see why the acceptance of dropping standards in professionalism have been so widely accepted or absorbed.

Come on industry, pull up you socks, lets get back to basics where manners, respect and professionalism are at the centre of what we do in the media industry.

Some good hires by Carat in Dan and Paul, both gentlemen of the industry and on the upward stage of the bell curve of their careers.

I expect the new GM, will be of similar standing which makes Carat a business to look out for in 2015.

All agencies go through peaks and troughs. This is Carat and Ikons time in the trough but it wasn’t long ago that Aegis/Carat was the number one network and Ikon the fastest growing most profitable agency. Nearly all bounce back with the right team at the helm. Carat see to have a solid plan here that clearly has not come together overnight.

It takes time to see if a management team is right for a business. This is often only visible when the business is under pressure. Carat and Ikon have had a good ride now things are tough the pressure has been on leaders like Norris or Greets to perform. To do this you need the right structure and support.

What I respect about Carats approach is that they have not knee jerked. They have given the management team time to perform. They have recognised leadership problems in the business and slowly built a solid turnaround plan. Starting with Simon who has a proven turn around success record in Melbourne and then Paul to sow up the trading component which has drifted since the Mitchell’s left, with only administrators really left in place, and now Dan whose record at OMD speaks for itself.

Good luck to the turn around team. Twelve months from now I think Carat will be a top 5 agency and a real contender.

With all this focus on Carat it would be interesting to see a discussion board about the next steps at Ikon. Merging Ikon under the leadership of Bohemia seems like a smart move given the momentum in Bohemia and decline in Ikon but regardless Ikon could also bounce back with the right changes and client stability.

What is different about the market currently is the staggering movement of clients and the staggering impact it can have on an agency over night. For example I believe Carat Sydney bills around $480m. Lose Woolworths and they are down to say $200m. Bohemia were $150 in April having now won several accounts since. This means that last years small agency is now bigger than last years big agency in Carat or fast growing agency in Ikon. Carat and Ikon in effect become boutique agencies and an opportunity to be the challengers – not a bad place to be during a turning around plan.

Next year it could be OMDs time or anyone for that matter that is not focused on building a future proof structure and the right leadership .

In my view the businesses that will succeed and hold success are the ones most flexibly, who can adapt with changing client needs. If as a leader you cannot enable this vision within a broader network or group then you are doomed to fail as a business unless you act decisively.

There have been a lot of comments about the failing of the management team Norris and Frazer. What surprises me is that more questions are not being asked of those responsible for managing this team over the last few years. There needs to be accountability here and I assume global leadership in Tokyo will not be giving to many second chances here.

Sintras and Starcom are a good example of a business managing broader network needs and requirements and now he has a leadership role at the regional table.

Carat were slow to act but are in the driving seat now, Ikon – that remains to be seen but you would have to assume similar leadership changes are being discussed behind closed doors in Mike Connaghan and Chris Savages office.

An exciting year ahead for all.

On a positive note, and I am being quite serious, the management does seem to be dressing a lot smarter round the office and Andrew had a lovely suit on last week.

Bassey even you have polished your shoes LOL

It’s quite motivating – dress to impress as Matt Baxter used to say.

Hello @ Hasta La Vista,

Looks like you were right after all, I’m off to join the team in the Lord Nelson celebrating if they are still standing.

Quote of the day: “who says crime doesn’t pay”.

Where has all the power gone?!!!

Dan is looking pretty cute round the office – great hire.