Rumours lead to top man

By IRENE CHAPPLE

Back in November - when the Business Herald first reported on the gossip about incoming Saatchi & Saatchi chief executive Andrew Stone - no word of confirmation would pass Stone's lips.

A brief but convoluted conversation with the Business Herald instead sent him into verbal contortions.

First he hooted with laughter at the very suggestion that he was returning to the Saatchi fold. So would he deny it to clear things up? Oh, ha, ha, no, no.

Then, when the Business Herald suggested running a snippet pointing out the rumours were incorrect he gasped. No, no, no, he said. Ha, ha, ha. Because the rumours, of course, were true.

And then Stone was suddenly and uncharacteristically unavailable and it was left to his boss in Australia, Ian Smith, to field questions.

Smith, sounding a touch perplexed, was left musing on how "we've all been around long enough to know how rumours work".

Here's how: They move fast and, more often than not, are true. In the advertising industry people love to talk.

An internal email sent in celebration of the season and purportedly from worldwide head Kevin Roberts assured staffers the new chief executive had indeed been appointed.

And it was indeed one of the family, the note continued. It was ... his daughter! Roberts junior, you see, is a staffer at the agency.

Dave Walden, former co-MD with Stone at Saatchi, wondered if the agency was trying to recover its glory days through the appointment of an old hand.

But perhaps a more pressing concern for Saatchi is how to handle its announcements with more panache.