Peter Horgan feels a sense of freedom in ending a long career at the local outpost of a big holding company where he ended up looking after 1,200 people.
He now has just 50 people, and growing. The former CEO of Omnicom Media Group ANZ is now co-principal and group chief executive at independent full-service marketing agency JOY.
“You get to come in and ask all the stupid questions in your first 90 days, and observe and then activate off the back of what you're seeing,” he told AdNews.
“I’m going to enjoy getting close to it and helping the people here grow, and helping the clients grow their business."
And the agency is expanding. “We’ve put on over a dozen, just in the last three months, some incredibly senior people have come across from some of the holdcos,” he said.
He thinks around 100 people would be about the right sized to keep it intimate.
“With the advent of AI and the machines doing what they're good at, and building an agency of the future, 100 people will be able to potentially have the impact of 200 to 400 people,” he said.
Moving from a big organisation to an independent hasn’t been without its worries.
On leaving OMG, he found most confronting was knowing he would be off the tools for at least six months, that period of gardening leave while working through the non compete period.
“I ended up at lots of meetings,” he said. “I said yes to every appointment and managed to stay reasonably busy.
“And did some strategy work with the Mecca guys and some other consultancy stuff as well, with other retailers.
“I did the obligatory European holiday. And all that determination to read a book a day and learn to play the piano didn't actually manifest itself.
“But I may have managed to stay sane and my tax is a lot more organised than most years.”
At Omnicom, the tyranny of distance, with a head office in the US, was a friend for a long time there.
“You were able to just get on with stuff,” he said.
“I think Omnicom, probably out of all the holdcos, was most respectful towards local market nuance, and let its leads get on with stuff.
“And if there was stuff you really disagreed with, you're far enough away where you could ignore it and hope you are vindicated by the time they circle back.
“That changed a lot in the last couple of years and I always had the itch of having a crack at something I had some equity in.
“And so, I’ve had a relationship with the JOY principals for many years, since the beginning, when it started.”
Simon Rush, owner at JOY, was Horgan’s boss at Optimedia.
“That's when JOY, or Razor as it was back then, really started to kick,” Horgan said.
“I was helping out and was in for a small amount of sweat equity.”
When he started at Omnicom, the equity from JOY was put into a trust in Horgan’s wife’s name and kept in a bottom drawer until now.
“I was looking at other things during the six months off, including the media owner side,” he said. “I had a lot of conversations.
“The more I looked at the capability here at JOY, and also the willingness to invest in deeper performance capabilities, the more I liked it.”
The culture isn’t what he’s been used to.
“The Omnicom culture was good at building and maintaining teams,” he said.
“The fundamental change for me is going to be twofold … scale and freedom. That’s freedom to do what you want to do.
“Having a strong commitment to creative excellence will be an interesting addition to my media heritage.”
At Omnicom, Horgan carried weight running a 1200 plus headcount at an organisation he was at for more than two decades.
“A lot of directives coming from over the horizon and that was hard,” he said.
“I think the freedom to pursue what you think is important within an organisation that you have ultimate influence over, and also answer a challenge that has been winking away at the back of your head for many years, is very motivating.
“It's fresh. It's new. It brings its own excitement, also its own challenge. There is a touch of the unknown there but you wouldn't be in this industry if you didn't feel you're able to embrace change.
Horgan has had a long commitment to the advertising industry, as long time chair of the Media Federation of Australia (MFA).
He’s no longer chair there but has kept a board seat at the Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA).
“I still have a lot to offer the industry and want to stay close to two bodies that can help improve the entire industry,” he said.
“I am particularly proud of the linkage and cooperation fostered between the different bodies, the AANA and the MFA.
“There probably wasn't a lot of trust there four or five years ago. Now it's a truly collaborative relationship (between the two CEOs) Josh (Faulks) and Sophie (Madden). It couldn't be more different.”
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