EXCLUSIVE: Bellamy Hayden set to move into media buying
Award-winning media strategy shop Bellamy Hayden is planning to launch a media buying unit on behalf of parent company Photon, Mumbrella can reveal.
If it goes ahead, the move would mark a dramatic change of direction for the Photon-owned agency, which was founded by Simon Bellamy and Phil Hayden more than eight years ago. Photon took 100% ownership in 2007. Bellamy Hayden has offices in Sydney, Melbourne and Bangkok.
The move would be a significant one because communication planners often claim that media neutrality is a central plank of them being able to give clients unbiased advice. Bellamy Hayden was the first media strategy house to become successful in Australia, although it was later outgrown by Naked, which is now a sister company within the Photon Group.
However, the move makes sense for Photon. The group, which was founded in 2000 and is headed by chairman Tim Hughes and CEO Matt Bailey, is one of Australia’s largest communications companies.
it will be a dark day in the advertising world when strategy agencies can no longer mutter the awesome words ‘media agnostic’ or ‘media neutral’ during their sell 🙁
I hate hearning people say ‘media agnostic’… long let the phrase die!
On this Bellamy Hayden thing, it’s a hugely significant move in the context of the Photon Group – which has set out part of its stall as having a group of companies that aren’t exposed to trends in media spend. If BellamyHayden’s media buying operation does gain significant scale, then the patter from on high may have to change a bit.
I hate hearning people say ‘media agnostic’… long let the phrase die!
On this Bellamy Hayden thing, it’s a hugely significant move in the context of the Photon Group – which has set out part of its stall as having a group of companies that aren’t exposed to trends in media spend. If BellamyHayden’s media buying operation does gain significant scale, then the patter from on high may have to change a bit.