O'Sullivan enters revival mode

By IRENE CHAPPLE

New Zealand advertising's perennial nice guy, Mike O'Sullivan, is being bailed up in his corporate apartment in Melbourne. Milk and toast - or so he says - are splattered all over the floor.

He and wife Stacey Rowe have two young boys, they're moving country, life is frantic. And then he's cornered into talking about his plans for Saatchi & Saatchi.

"Can we talk about this later?" he asks. "Please?" Saatchi's new executive creative director wants to get his feet under the desk first.

But, being ever obliging, O'Sullivan eventually relents and lets slip a few ideas he's got on how to take the once untouchable agency back to its creative and financial highs of the 80s and 90s.

That was when Saatchi had a theme song: Country hit Lord, It's hard to Be Humble, once used in a self-promoting advertisement.

Then it lost big-spending clients - this week, the Lotteries Commission departed after 17 years - and big-name players in its success, most notably Kim Thorp, left.

These days, Colenso BBDO rides the highest - this year it is expected to bill at least $20 million more than any other agency and it has high-profile big spenders including Air New Zealand and Farmers on its books.

O'Sullivan was creative director at Colenso for five years, and he takes a fair whack of credit for its revival in fortunes.

Then July last year he scooted off to sister agency Clemenger BBDO, in Melbourne - now, less than a year later, he is back as executive creative director at the competition.

So, is he seen as Saatchi's great hope?

"I don't think Rocky [chief executive Andrew Stone] sees me as being the great white hope. I think Rocky sees me as being a good partner and ultimately that is what will make it better."

Stone approached O'Sullivan for this job: The two had been fishing together and O'Sullivan had mentioned the family wasn't sold on the Ocker lifestyle.

The fishing, the beaches, the family and friends in New Zealand: "Stacey and I and the kids had a fantastic life in New Zealand, then suddenly we didn't have it and we underestimated its importance," says O'Sullivan. "We really missed home."

Stone, appointed at Saatchi in January, later rang to offer O'Sullivan a job. Little convincing was needed: O'Sullivan arrives in New Zealand today, will holiday in Fiji, then starts at Saatchi in July.

O'Sullivan says the agency has a strong brand, good talent - he names creative director John Plimmer - and good clients including Telecom and TVNZ.

But: "I think it needs a shot in the arm. It definitely needs a shot in the arm. There is no question of that."

At Colenso he ignored constraints of budget to produce high-quality creative "by hook or by crook". He worked collaboratively with clients, rather than producing a big branding campaign for approval.

O'Sullivan is loath to guess at problems with Saatchi but says maybe "a couple of things [need to be] changed".

Being an outsider will help. "What I will bring is a fresh pair of eyes. I am not part of the culture ... There are some elements that need to change and some that need to stay the same. I think Rocky and I as a partnership will be the key to success of the brand."