Feisty organiser heads off

By IRENE CHAPPLE

Lynne Clifton blames love for her tighter waistband. Exercise has gone out the window and now it's all good food and red wine.

Whether her weight concerns are real is debatable. What is true is that love has plucked this feisty organiser from her role as executive director of the Communication Agencies Association of New Zealand.

And it is soon to plant her in Canada, where she will join her partner of almost two years, Jim Goodwin, in a town called Chilliwack, just east of Vancouver.

The woman so often snapped in the society pictures at advertising events, the one who led the marketing industry's lobbying, organised the awards events and arranged continuing training, is leaving after three years.

In that time she has overseen the rebranding and revamping of the former 3As to Caanz as it is now.

The London-born, Taranaki-raised Clifton began her career as a broadcasting cadet in Wellington, spent 20 years in radio and then went to Ireland to take up the chief executive's role at Communicorp Group.

She then ran her own business consultancy but was tempted to the Caanz challenge by a headhunter's offer.

"Because I had always dealt with the 3As, I knew what it was and what it represented, what it stood for," she says. "Having the opportunity to rebrand and restructure and expand membership and create value for the members' money seemed to me a very good way to bring my skills into play. I really loved the whole challenge of turnaround and reinvention ... that's very exciting to me."

It was at a time when the advertising industry was changing. Having a representative organisation that was adcentric was no longer enough.

Marketers and designers were edging into the market, and a truly representative organisation needed them on the membership list.

"I think there was a recognition of the threats to the business," says Clifton. "The internationalism of it ... a lot of the decision-making was going offshore and there was also a recognition of the growth of new media."

Under Clifton's leadership a website was set up and membership grew from 45 to peak at 62 last year before dropping to 57, largely due to mergers and the demise of some agencies.

Caanz has lobbied the Government on behalf of the industry on issues such as alcohol advertising and direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising.

Such work invigorates Clifton; she likes to use her brain. It's the pointy part of a job which also requires plenty of cheek-kissing.

Four nights at functions a week wasn't out of the norm for Clifton, but the people, she says, made it easy.

Clifton, in turn, is regarded as someone who has brought a vibrancy and profile to the organisation.

She also brought the Effie awards. In a year when clients raised demands that agencies prove their worth, their debut was a resounding success.

Clifton believes the Effies define her style of work: proving value. That is a core belief and indeed, it helped her decision to move to Canada.

Clifton and Goodwin, who has been based in New Zealand since April, were considering buying a house in the suburbs because of inner-city property values.

Trapped on the motorway, in the rain when on the way to see a house in Te Atatu, Clifton started to reconsider.

Lists were made over the weekend. Reasons to stay, and a longer list of reasons to go. Clifton intends to help Goodwin run his audio and home theatre business, but she also sees it as a chance to return to being her own boss.

* Caanz president Martin O'Halloran says interviews have started for Clifton's replacement. An appointment is expected to be announced within a month.