EXCLUSIVE: Ikon chairman Simon White has rubbished suggestions the recent management changes at Ikon were about cutting costs and improving margins for parent company STW.
Instead, he said the media agency model needed to change and part of his, and incoming CEO James Greet’s, new mandate would be to adopt the principles of the Conscious Capitalism movement which charges companies with the need to do good beyond profits.
However, White told AdNews the primary focus for Ikon in the mid-term was for the agency to get back it’s reputation for “truly understanding” client businesses and breaking new ground in innovation and creativity. That included less reliance on media owners generating ideas for media agencies and clients and forging much closer ties with creative agencies.
“The current media agency needs to evolve,” White said. “Yes, intelligence and data are a big opportunity for the industry. But I want to ensure Ikon is a firm of endearment.
We want more of a focus on what we are renowned for, to get back to our founding core principles which is being absolutely committed to clients needs and their ultimate objective which is sales.”
White said media agencies had also lost their way in understanding how creative agencies can partner with media. “It is up to us to repair relationships with creative agencies and collaborate in a greater fashion,” he said.
White said he wanted Ikon to eventually be “recognised globally” as a leader in company culture, partly by aligning with the Conscious Capital movement which international benchmarks show delivers higher returns for those companies engaged in doing good beyond profits.
“We want to take a long-tem five year view on this and not some sort of short-term cash grab,” he said.
White and his co-founder at Ikon, Gary Hardwick sold their remaining stake in the business to STW in 2010.
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