Martin Cowie to leave Carat as agency unites Sydney and Melbourne under new CEO Peter Barrie

Martin Cowie, managing director of Carat Sydney, is departing the agency after just 19 months, the media agency said today.  

According to the statement from the company: “Martin Cowie has made the decision to leave Carat next week.” His exit is part of a bigger shakeup which sees Peter Barrie, currently MD of Carat Melbourne, promoted to CEO of Carat Australia. And Simon Ryan, only recently promoted to GM of Mediacom Melbourne after the promotion of Mark Pejic is to join as MD of Carat Melbourne.

Cowie – previously commercial director at OMD – was only appointed to Carat in February last year. That followed the “mutual decision” for previous boss Mandy Henry to depart the agency. Cowie wasn’t answering calls today.

Lee Stephens, Pacific CEO of Carat’s owner Aegis Media said: ““The key reason for these changes is to initiate a single strategy and clearer view of our business for our clients, media suppliers, and our staff. It also makes sense to have a single national structure, particularly with our plans in other Australian markets. Peter has done an outstanding job since joining Carat in 2007, and it was a natural choice for him to take over running the Carat group in Australia. A complete transition is already in progress and Peter will be relocating to Sydney on 9th October.”