Paul Murphy, the former managing director of dentsu's iProspect Melbourne, has launched his own media agency, Kookaburra Riot.
Kookaburra Riot is a full funnel media agency, with the added service of consulting, advising on process, portfolio investment strategy, partnerships or unique product launches.
“Launching an agency is equal parts exciting and scary," he said.
"I have to thank all of my colleagues and friends in the industry for encouraging me to take the plunge.
"It has always struck me as odd that we ask clients to take risks, if we are not willing to do it ourselves. This is a wonderful opportunity for me to give back to clients and hopefully build a business that people want to bring their best selves to and create real value for clients."
He said the industry is being buffeted by change on all sides, by technology, the economy and evolving cultural shifts that are impacting staff, clients and customers.
"Kookaburra Riot is built on the belief that the most important asset that agencies can offer clients in this climate today is seasoned and experienced professionals," he said.
Murphy was laid off from dentsu on the same day as the Christmas party in December last year as part of a round of redundancies. He came from dentsu in 2021 from independent Cummins&Partners where he was chief media officer.
"There is never a perfect time to launch an agency, but there has also never been a better moment than now," he said.
"I have been lucky enough to have benefited greatly from working for and alongside some of the best people in both agencies and marketing teams over the past decades.
"There is now an opportunity to put that experience to work to benefit businesses that are challenging the established players and norms in our market.
"Given fragmentation in channels and the complexity of technology, clients are often facing off with discipline specialists at agencies, but needing to lead the dance when it comes to pulling the long term communications vision together.
"I am excited to be launching an agency that isn’t asking clients to conform to our briefing templates nor into a rigid process we are structuring ourselves to deliver, using technology we have built, and are now finding ourselves locked into. Now is the time for us to take the lead and inspire our clients with strategies for media led business growth."
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