Latest departure puts squeeze on at M&C Saatchi

By Karen Scherer

It has been a hell of a year for advertising agency M&C Saatchi - or should that simply be hell?

Just three-and-a-half years after setting up shop in New Zealand, and two months after learning it had finally been handed the lucrative and now-infamous Tourism Board account, the agency appears to be going through major growing pains.

The announcement this week that managing partner Paul Jeffreys is leaving the agency next month is the latest in a string of high-profile departures.

Jeffreys - known affectionately in the industry as Squeeze - is the last of the original four partners to go his own way. While it is well-known that several previous departures have been prompted by disputes over profit-sharing, Jeffreys insists his departure is amicable. M&C Saatchi has agreed to buy out Jeffreys' share of the company - a move that will ensure he gets a generous payout.

Nevertheless, his decision to get out of advertising altogether after a 15-year career has come as a surprise to many. It has also raised eyebrows in the industry because the agency has yet to find out whether it has won another lucrative contract, the Vodafone account, which is believed to be worth around $10 million in billings.

According to Jeffreys, he has been thinking of getting out of advertising for some time. The man one former colleague describes as a "great advertising statesman" says he began having doubts over the Christmas period. The agency talked him into staying on until the Tourism Board fiasco was settled.

"I'm 38 years old and you either end up being in this business forever, because it has that kind of effect on you, or make a decision to leave. I don't want to be 50 years old and still be doing what I'm doing now," he explains.

He insists his timing is perfect, and says both the Tourism Board and Vodafone has been kept well informed of developments.

"It's a good, successful company and I can feel proud about that, but from my point of view I'm really keen to see whether skills I've developed over the last ten years can be utilised to my own personal gain."

He admits he will miss the industry: "I really enjoy working with creative people. It's a unique way of working. There are times when you think, my god, I'm getting paid for this and you're having the greatest fun in the whole world," he enthuses.

But, like others who have burned out in the business, he won't miss the stress.

"You sit around with people in the advertising business and if you're at a pub or somewhere, the conversation always gets to: 'Why are we doing this? It's far too stressful'. It's always about what else would we be actually doing. From my point of view, I think now is absolutely the right time to go and do something else. Otherwise, you end up with 'He Was A Good Ad-Man' on your gravestone and to be honest with you, that's a most unsatisfactory way to leave this earth."

His exasperation with the advertising industry is understandable. When it was revealed by the Herald two months ago that M&C Saatchi had won the Tourism Board account over Wellington agency Goldsack Harris Thompson, industry gossips were quick to reach for their knives.

"God, they can't just say, 'Well done', can they?" he retorted at the time.

This week, the industry was abuzz with rumours that M&C Saatchi had failed to take out weather insurance for television commercials it has been filming for the Tourism Board in the South Island. The inevitable happened - the weather packed up - and the agency is now having to organise expensive reshoots.

Jeffreys will leave the agency on July 9. He plans to take his wife on holiday, and says he will reveal his plans when he gets back at the end of the month.

He is being replaced by Marie Jackson, a former general manager of Mojo in Melbourne and regional partner of Mojo's parent company, Publicis. M&C has stressed her experience handling tourism in Australia, with the Tourism Victoria account. She is expected to start in mid-July, along with a new creative head, Chris Swift, who is also from Australia.

In the meantime, M&C Saatchi's Australian-based chairman, Tom Dery, is overseeing the business here and hiring new staff. The agency is looking to hire at least five new people as a result of winning the Tourism Board business.

Dery insists everything is so far going according to plan.

"We're actually in very good shape as far as the Tourism Board is concerned," he says. "There's a whole lot of activity going on to implement the campaign that we proposed to them some time ago. It's going completely to schedule. We've got a whole production team putting that together and that's very exciting and that won't miss a beat."

As if they don't have enough on their plates, staff in both Auckland and Wellington offices are also preparing to relocate. The Wellington office is about to move into new premises, in Wool House in Brandon Street, and the Auckland office is also hoping to finalise new premises next week.

Dery expects to be in New Zealand for the next four or five weeks.

"It's a real period of transition for us," he acknowledges. "It's because we've grown dramatically and we've just got to get things in order."