Saatchi & Saatchi is celebrating 40 years in Australia, starting with Saatchi & Saatchi Compton in 1979.
At a dinner at Sydney's Quay, past luminaries, current stars and long standing clients got together to celebrate, all of them referring to the Saatchi & Saatchi philosophy: “Nothing is Impossible.”
Among the alumni: former chair Sandra Yates, plus David Nobay, Vic Waterhouse, Mike Newman and Sharon Skeggs.
Clients included Toyota, Campbell Arnotts, Westpac, Nestle and Caltex.
Mike Rebelo, the CEO of Publicis Groupe Australia, says his life changed forever when he joined Saatchi & Saatchi in 1997.
"It really did. I was just a young suit, working for an independent agency in Perth," he told the 40th year dinner audience.
"I remember watching 60 Minutes with my dad and the first ad break was always a big Toyota ad. Toyota used to sponsor 60 Minutes for years.
"And I'd always just be completely inspired by the work... emotive, wonderful storytelling.
"I remember at my first job sitting in the tea room reading the double page spreads in Time magazine and again another classic Toyota ad and you I could see the Saatchi key number ... and I wanted to work there.
"I remember reading AdNews and there was a great front page which had Saatchi & Saatchi and they were going to set up a retail agency called, Team Saatchi.
"It was absolutely and honour to have that opportunity to work at Saatchi's as an account manager."
Classic ads were played during the night:
Why did the chicken cross the road? Toyota 1992:
There's no other store. David Jones 1999:
Unbreakable. Toyota Hilux 2012
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