Cummins & Partners closes Adelaide office with staff moving across to rebranded local agency
Creative agency Cummins & Partners has closed its Adelaide office and moved its remaining staff into the offices of local agency Hybrid.
As part of the deal, Hybrid, which launched six years ago, has rebranded as Cummins Hybrid creating what the agency labels as “arguably Australia’s largest independent agency network”.
The new Cummins Hybrid branding
The merged agency will be led by Hybrid’s managing director Rob Porcaro, while Hybrid ECD Craig Jackson will lead the creative offering. Cummins’ South Australia’s managing director Bronwen Gwynn-Jones has taken the title of managing partner within the new operation.
This is the most inaccurate reporting i have witnessed in years.
I admired Mumbrella. I don’t today.
We have moved office space. We have merged with a strong local born agency and have created an entity in Adelaide CumminsHybrid of which we hope the town will be proud. Mumbrella you shouldnt be proud of this sensationalist and quite honestly misleading report. We get no favours from an ad industry that revels in knocking us. And you have just fed that appetite with this slop.
Shame on you.
This is exciting news for Adelaide. And for us.
Sean Cummins
When two agencies merge – and merge names, and merge staff, and merge management teams – is it right to say an office has ‘closed’?
Smoke?
Fire?
I know if i ran a business, I would certainly know the difference between a ‘merged’ business and a ‘closed’ business.
This sounds like sensationalism at the expense of an agency trying to grow in a tough market.
Wow. ouch. In all mergers someone’s office must close but that doesn’t mean the business closes. It’s actually factually incorrect to imply the business has closed. It’s living on right????
@Ouch
Yes. The business is living on. Bigger and better. But because the office building has closed, the clever clogs at Mumbrella thought that headline would sound more dramatic. It is pretty poor form, it suggests our agency is closing..and it has upset a lot of people…including myself.. and yet Mumbrella stands by it…because yes.. the office (building) we once inhabited is closed. Because we moved to a new one.
Hilarious right? Sean Cummins
Hey Sean.
Do you remember when Mumbrella moved office to Chippendale a few years ago?
Didn’t see a closure story then – just an office move story.
I think your point is strong.
@ZoeSamios – I think a response warranted.
Hello ‘Own your shit’,
I would contend that unless your birth certificate says “Own your shit” (in which case, props to your parents and the authorities who were seemingly sleeping on the job that day), it’s problematic to demand Zoe owns her shit, when you’re using an alias to call her out.
Mumbrella has responded to Sean and we stand by Zoe and the article. Sean disagrees with this stance. That is fine. He is entitled to do so.
You don’t need a response from a junior reporter on this.
If you disagree with the article, your beef is with myself and Tim Burrowes, not Zoe. Final decisions on a news story angle lies with myself and Tim, not with Zoe.
Thanks,
Vivienne – Mumbrella
So even after Sean has written to you and clarified details on the merger, you still don’t change the headline of your article? That sums up your lack of care for the truth and focus only on sensationalism.
Hi ‘Unbelievable’,
Sean has indeed written to us about this article, but I think he would agree with me that those emails are off the record.
Sean has executed his right to reply in this very comment thread for everyone to see. People can now read the article, and Sean’s take on it, and make a decision about where they stand – as you clearly have.
Mumbrella stands by the article as is and even though we have communicated with Cummins about the merger, we believe there are unanswered questions about the new ownership structure, staff numbers and stakeholders. Sean also stands by his position.
It’s worth noting that despite the extent of this disagreement, we are by no means at war with Cummins or Sean.
Thanks,
Vivienne – Mumbrella
“At the time of posting, Cummins & Partners had not answered Mumbrella’s questions about which clients or how many staff had moved across, other than an email saying it was “all” of them.”
That sounds like a pretty definitive answer to me. I’m not sure how you could be any more clear?
Feels like an arbitrary decision to clarify in the comments section, and not update the article.
And if Vivienne is responding on behalf of the decision makers perhaps she should include her title?
This merger has no merit except saving face and not closing another office. Time to consolidate, get your head back in the game “Australia” and learn from it! As they say nothing wrong with giving it a go, as long as you learn.
……journalistic integrity and research have taken a back seat as news organisations chase eyeballs and create clickbait……
Recent article from mumbrella on fake news, how ironic.
The details you seek on who owns who, you shall find by doing a ASIC search on the following Document IDs for Cummins Hybrid Pty Ltd formally HYBRID ADVERTISING & MARKETING PTY LTD.
7E8704421
7E8432554
As for CUMMINS & PARTNERS SOUTH AUSTRALIA PTY LTD
2E7107875
Not sure why Sean would refuse to answer questions on ownership when it’s all a matter of public record.