Upheaval in Telstra marketing sees advertising heavy hitter Mark Collis as director of creativity

Lots of nervous roster agencies who know they won’t be able to bluff him…

Reporting directly to Kate M is what will actually make this role work.

All the best, Mark. Make Telstra marketing great again. Please.

Yes, quite a bit of shuddering in adland boardrooms. You can’t bluff MC.

I don’t care how good their marketing campaigns are. Until they provide outstanding customer service i will not go near them again

.

If I were Mark, I wouldn’t be hiring my costume for the Christmas party just yet.

This is a good news for Telstra and the ad industry. Firstly, its good to see Telstra put its money where its mouth is when it comes to their commitment to creativity. Secondly, the ad industry should be delighted Telstra looked to someone from the ad industry to help deliver on that commitment. And thirdly, good ad people should see Mark’s appointment as signalling the start of more opportunities to practice their craft.
Good luck Mark. Thankyou Telstra.

will you be posting a correction when mark’s role is announced, because what you proclaim above is incorrect in terms of what mark’s role at telstra will be. stay tuned for the facts folks.

announcement made by telstra “Mark Collis has been appointed director, Creativity and Innovation, and commenced last week, reporting to chief marketing officer Kate McKenzie. Mark will bring his ideas into the Telstra mix, and will work with people throughout the business to stimulate new thinking – to help turn good ideas into reality. Mark’s role has no bearing on Telstra’s existing marketing team or day-to-day campaigns. He has a wide-ranging brief that will span many parts of the company including innovation, products and technology.”

Yes bliss. You can read a press release.

The rest of us read between the lines, which said “Amanda ain’t coming back”

ps – Doesn’t Kate McKenzie look like Alex Drake?

Lame. Can’t think of anything worse than working for Telstra. They must be paying him well. Imagine being surrounded by a bunch of Telstra bores all day long. Uuuuurgh.

lol. bet you see reds under the bed too. so if your mark and you get to step outside of advertising and 30 second tvcs and bring creativity to products and technology and to the way a whole company works, you’re actually going to go nah what i really want to focus on first is to check out agency rosters and oust the head of marketing. i hope mark has bigger creative ambitions than what you’re giving him credit for. this role is new for oz – but pretty common overseas.

Was Mark associated with Leo Burnett in 2007 and 2008? Space Monkey – the Leo Burnett, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Australian Muso, Ben Lee video is the exact replica of a storyboard sent to me from someone associated or working with Burnett’s. But this was in 2008. Surely it did not take Burnett’s two years to find the right song? Or, if Burnett’s have stolen someone else’s idea, don’t they have good litigation lawyers in Australia?

Oh dear bliss.
You’re making up a strawman argument now. Let’s spell it out. All I said was it reads that Amanda’s not coming back. I didn’t say that Mark Collis would be doing her precise role. He likely isn’t, nor wants, nor needs to. A trained monkey could do it – and several have as the above work testifies.
Justin Milne was her biggest fan and sponsor. Some claim he persuaded her to run with Rabbits when she wanted it canned. He has now left. She is on mat leave. Mark Collis pitches up with a completely-different-for-the-purposes-of-redundancy-law job role. Join the dots.

I so completely agree with what AdGrunt is saying! My God, how many times have I seen that happen in adland… female CSM (or similar) goes on maternity leave and suddenly a whole other role gets created at a level one spot up… sure sounds like Amanda ain’t comin back to me!!

It would be unkind to all concerned to make this a gender issue.

well done Mark!!!!
Causing so much paranoia , all you did was accept a job that was created for you.
Maybe now we will see something better than rabbits and people getting lost in a car. why be paranoid about that!!! embrace it

i still want to see better customer service. could not care less about their brand or creativity

In that case Differentiator, you should probably be commenting on another blog.

@ AdGrunt – and miss out on your pretentious insight? Thanks, but I will stick with Mumbrella.

I aim to please.

Now trot along sweetie, those letters aren’t going to frank themselves.

Where shall I trot too?

http://tinyurl.com/3xdnnd5

Note link’s first paragraph.

I suspect this could go on for some time, or at least until your mum picks you up to go to footy practice.

my mum is no longer with us.

It’ll likely be your dad’s boyfriend picking you up then.

Shame your mum took it so hard.

Now you’ve got me laughing!

Blah blah bloody blah. Get a grip. Amanda will be back. She’s done an amazing job so far and no doubt will continue.

Me thinks adgrunt is a boy

well he definitely aint the messiah

Just a very naughty boy. *******smacks*********

I blame bliss. Clearly a communist.

Didn’t he start his own agency that went out of business? Cassius Clay. Rumour was he’d pissed off so many agency types he couldn’t get a job…statrted his own shop which then flopped. He must have moved to Japan after? I hate it when people change the past!

too funny factfinder!!!
Do you hate it when people change the past? or are you just jealous of what his future will be?

Second that Poppit. Amanda is doing a brilliant job. As Executive Director, I don’t think she would feel threatened by a talented Director coming on board.

Mark Collis and Todd Sampson were not mates, as has been mentioned on a few blogs. Actually, when Mark Collis departed Leo Burnett, Todd Sampson remarked that some CDs had lost the fire in the belly required of younger teams. However, WWF’s original 2007 Earth Hour was Collis’ idea and it was Collis that steered the Titanium winning Cherub Pictures’ commercial directed by Justin Kurzel. Collis’ quote at that time was: “Every finger on every switch makes a difference. It’s a little hippyish perhaps, but this is about real, old-fashioned people power”

Who are you Rick Henry and why do you post the same stuff across various sites?

Not jealous TC…I wish him the best. Everyone deserves to be happy and he clearly has done some outstanding campaigns and shown amazing thought leadership in his field. My point wasn’t personal…more general…let’s not fib about our past…it actually makes you more interesting when you’ve survived a past like his. I am surprised about Telstra though…he didn’t strike me as a corporate (which Telstra wrote the book on) and I’m not sure he’s going to like working for the man (or woman in this case). I would have thought he would have been better off writing a book…god, the shit he could spill…priceless!

I trust Mark Collis and Kate McKenzie will make a sincere effort to improve Teltra’s ability to compete in the market place. The organization has become arrogant and are no longer cost effective i.e. TPG broadband $49.95 for 150GB, Telstra $49.95 for 25GB (new offer). Wake up!

Not sure Collis will get tied up in the recondite area of Bigpond product pricing.

If you don’t like Bigpond’s price, then go to TPG et al – that’s what a market economy delivers.

If you only have Bigpond available then that’s the price of servicing you and all the other marginally profitable locations.

They may be finally recognising it, but Telstra’s big problem is customer service.

Ever tried to get help fropm them if something goes wrong? Get ready for call centre hell.

Customer experience counts for morew than ads. The hill they’ve got to climb will be to get disgruntled customers to come back. Good luck with that.

Joined the YouTube of that Oz ad mag, BANDTdotcom. They have stated in their blog and Oz print mag that Leo Burnett WWF Space Monkey TVC has already won 2010 Cannes Advertising Film Festival? How could that be? Festival not on yet? Burnett’s Sydney or Nationally on Cannes Lions Judging Panel, so already fixed! Do they fix everything in Oz? Melbourne Storm. Salary caps. Advertising Votes. Surely the public and legals do not allow you to anymore? MTV have already said they will not play the Ben Lee song that BANDT incorrectly called Space Odyssey or Planet of the Apes. Does that BANDT run Cannes? Does BANDT editorial always report correctly about music? Is it also true that BANDT and Leo Burnett are taking over The TV Week Logies? Your ad industry most powerful in the world in Oz.

Polite message to me from “meh” posted 6 May 4:03pm of which ever internet-country time band: “Who are you Rick Henry and why do you post the same stuff across various sites?” My Answer: Hello “meh”. Who I am is clearly highlighted back to my UK base blog site on YouTube where I post “the same stuff” only relevant to a handful of international advertising and marketing sites. Interestingly “meh” you have no link to your name and seem “anonymous”. So that’s me. Can you tell all international communities who you are and what you do? Do you know all about the BANDT and Leo Burnett Space Chimp fix ups? You seem to?