Ad industry now ‘populated by pygmies and corporate yes-men’ not real leaders, says Ian Thubron as Scott Whybin leaves TBWA
Thubron: “Just when the industry needs more Scott Whybins, we appear to be blessed with less and less of them”
Scott Whybin’s announcement that he was leaving Whybin\TBWA in Australia agency in favour of setting up a new and as-yet-unnamed agency has been described by ad industry veteran Ian Thubron as a great loss to the industry.
Thubron, formerly of TBWA\Hong Kong, Ogilvy Shanghai and M&C Saatchi Greater China, commented on Whybin’s departure in a post published via his LinkedIn.
“An ex-colleague sent me an SMS this morning asking, “Have you seen the news about Scott Whybin?”. Thanks to Google, it didn’t take more than a couple of seconds to see that he’s resigned from his agency Whybin\TBWA, 21 years after he founded it.”
Whybin resigned from Whybin\TBWA ending his 21 years with the agency but told Mumbrella’s Australian site he plans to set up an new agency that will not be defined by the constructs of traditional agencies.
Thubron, who was CEO of TBWA\Hong Kong for six years from 2004 to 2010 and executive vice president of TBWA\Asia Pacific from 2004-21015, wrote the “‘business as usual’ memo from TBWA’s leadership” left him thinking.
“Here goes another great of the advertising industry, an industry once led by real leaders, now populated by pygmies and managers and corporate yes-men.
Whybin
“I loved by 25 years in the global advertising industry, and I’m blessed to be able to bring that experience to bear now in a different country and a different field. But love it as I did, I certainly did not miss the inanity that Bob Hoffman referred to yesterday at Advertising Week Europe as “The Golden Age of Bullshit”.
“Just when the industry needs more Scott Whybins, we appear to be blessed with less and less of them,” he said.
He’s not leaving advertising, he’s just starting a new agency.
How’s this a loss to anyone but tbwa?
ReplyThanks Ian for bringing up the subject.
ReplyHowever, one bigger issue remains– more key people in our industry are leaving our industry because they have become disinterested in it. We are not growing any more leaders like Hegarty, Ball, Batey, or French…Data has taken over. Fewer clients respect agencies. Everyone with a computer thinks they can make ads. Digital offers new opportunities for brands but clients are more interested in Tweets and Facebook likes than they are in building long term brand positionings. I could go on but this is not a book….
Sadly we all know what the truth is. Scott wouldn’t have left because he was disinterested. He would have been asked to leave because he was too expensive. OR that there was no other role for him beyond what he was doing.
ReplyMaybe all these great icons of advertising should have resisted the urge to dance with the devil if they were so concerned about retaining control.
They want to sell ownership of their agencies to the networks for big bucks (like whybin no doubt did)…when you do that you must realise that anything can happen thereafter, and you will not have a say in it.
The networks goal is to make money..they don’t give a shit about anything else.
ReplyHave your say