Shaken ... and given a stir

FCB's chief executive Nick Baylis and the ad agency's creative director, Oliver Maisey.

A shake-up of the advertising hierarchy may mark 2005 as a year when agency reputations are built or torn down.

In recent months, a raft of appointments to senior jobs across the larger agencies has ended several years of relative stability.

Some changes have seen creative partnerships shaken up and new combinations formed. Others bring fresh vitality to the top table, such as M&C Saatchi's appointment of a first-time chief executive and creative director, or the debut of Young & Rubicam's managing director.

While there is debate over what is behind the change, there is little doubt that turnover at the top brings with it the possibility of an exciting year for the industry.

"It has to indicate that there is potential for agency reputations to be built, for new partnerships to be struck up," said M&C Saatchi's new managing director Philip O'Neill. "There's potential for a lot of new thinking, new insight, for things to be done differently."

Nick Baylis, of FCB New Zealand, said the industry had long needed a good shake-up.

"There has been an incredible reliance on stalwarts - and some of those have passed their use-by dates, or just had enough," he said.

Baylis, a former managing director of Generator Bates, said he believed the shake-up of long-established partnerships would bring a creative flowering, as well as the potential to dislodge longer-term client relationships with some agencies.

"There is a changing of the guard ... people are promoting young stars and fresher blood," he said. "Because those people were hungry to make a name for themselves, they would be more likely to break convention.

"When you're at the top and successful, you don't fix something that isn't broken. When you are number four, five or six, you've got to do something and take a risk."

Views on what has prompted the movement vary widely, with some chalking it up to coincidence, while others see it as a reflection of a changing market.

"I think it's generational," said Y&R's new chief, Jon Ramage. "The marketing world now is much more complicated than it used to be and that needs different approaches. Clients now have the ability to move the business and segment it more among agencies and specialists."

Saatchi & Saatchi managing director Andrew Stone, whose appointment in January last year led the shake-up, agreed that a new environment had played a part.

That environment was less centred on pure advertising, with clients more interested in broader communications with their audience through sponsorships or websites.

There was also more pressure to perform, with agencies being held more accountable for results.

"I think there's a whole new way of doing business," he said.

Fresh thinking could lead to greater risk-taking and Stone also detected an appetite for that coming from clients. "A few years ago, our clients were relatively cautious ... now many chief executives of our client companies are saying to us, we want you to be really bold and lead a transformation."

All change

* Advertising Works Ogilvy appointed Drew Ayers as one of its two creative directors in late February.

* FCB appointed Nick Baylis as chief executive in late November and Oliver Maisey as executive creative director in early December.

* Lowe picked up creative director Sion Scott-Wilson in mid-February.

* M&C Saatchi promoted Philip O'Neill to managing director in late November. Rob Jack joined as creative director in mid-January.

* Young & Rubicam Advertising appointed Jon Ramage as chief executive at the start of February.