The high flyer with the perfect deal

By IRENE CHAPPLE

Kevin Malloy makes a final phone call from his office on the 14th floor of a New York high-rise.

As he chats, the 38-year-old looks out the window at the neon advertising around Times Square as it glows through the drizzle.

He can hear a chorus of horns and the urgent wail of a fire engine.

This is the soundtrack of New York, and it cuts easily through the damp night, through the noise-proofed windows.

It is past 6 o'clock, and the New Zealand-born chief executive of global media-buying giant Starcom MediaVest International will soon rug up in gloves, thick jacket and scarf to face a night on which the temperature has already dropped below zero.

He will walk beneath the pulsating signs for TDK, Pot Noodles and Amstal, advertising sites which can cost the advertiser up to US$2 million a year.

He will break his habit of jogging for 20 minutes, through Central Park, home to his Manhattan apartment.

Instead, Malloy will hail a yellow cab and head to the the office Christmas party, where he will have a few Heinekens and give a farewell speech.

Malloy is also likely to share with colleagues the astounding story of how he swung what must be the near perfect corporate deal - running a multibillion-dollar company from the location of his choice.

Malloy left New York on Thursday, and was to arrive in Auckland early today. On Monday, he will begin running the company - one of the top four media buyers in the world with billings last year of US$18.6 billion and clients such as Coca-Cola and Procter & Gamble - from an office in The Strand, Parnell.

Malloy has three children with his New Zealand-born wife, Emma, whom he met in London.

The oldest is 6 and, with a New York twang, frequently tells her dad to "Go figure".

Malloy chuckles. "When they start talking like that," he says, "you know it's time to come home."

New Zealand has always been home for Malloy, although he has spent almost half his life overseas.



He is close to his parents and two younger sisters, and has always returned to New Zealand for three weeks over Christmas.

He is a soccer player, but the All Blacks can count him as a passionate fan.

And he is a beer drinker - can't stand Budweiser but loves New Zealand-made brews.

He still has his New Zealand accent, although he says it is not as pronounced as when he left for what was intended to be the typical two-year overseas experience.

Instead, the former head boy of St Peter's College - the Christian Brothers' school next to Auckland Grammar - found himself swept up in the globetrotting business of media buying.

Employed by D'Arcy in London, Malloy moved rapidly into the international operation and up the corporate ladder.

He travelled through Europe during a heady period of change, as the Berlin Wall fell and capitalism spread.

"I spent time travelling through Warsaw, Budapest and Russia.

"At one point we had to do a big outside Budweiser sign in Red Square. It was backlit and needed electricity ... and the authorities held it up for six weeks to make sure we weren't doing anything too funky."

Four years ago, with D'Arcy in New York, Malloy was part of the team that snaffled the Procter & Gamble media account in a pitch against Leo Burnett, Grey Advertising and Zenith Media.

At US$1.2 billion, the account was the largest that had ever been reviewed.

It has been a frantic ride to the top, says Malloy, and he has worked hard all the way. "I don't think there is any magic formula," he says. "There is no substitute for bloody hard work. I was always very career focused and I had some lucky breaks."

And New York? It's great, says Malloy. "Full on, bang, all go."

The attacks of September 11 last year did not scare him off. On the contrary, they convinced him he should stay. But it was the children who changed his mind.

"You get back home and you see how relaxed people are here. I went into a dairy to buy a newspaper and the guy behind the counter wanted to talk to me. What's with that?"

He laughs, but the self-described "Kiwi bloke" knows he wants his kids to grow up with that relaxed attitude.

When he and Emma decided to go, Malloy presumed he would be effectively quitting his job. Instead, Starcom MediaVest management agreed he could take the job with him.

It means frightfully early starts - from the "relatively conventional" New York working day of 7.30am to 6.30pm, Malloy expects to be at his Parnell office each morning before 5.30, to catch most of the United States business day.

It will mean a somewhat more lonely corporate existence. Malloy will be pulling the StarCom MediaVest strings from a corner in the Saatchi & Saatchi offices, sharing a personal assistant with its chief executive, Ian Christie.

"Most of it will just be getting up early," says Malloy. "I spend a huge amount of time using email and on the telephone anyway. Now, emailing is going to be very important."

Dealing with Europe is rather more tricky. Malloy has a video conference appointment with clients in Geneva. For that, he has to be up and alert at 1am.

Travel will also take up a lot of time, although Malloy hopes he can do it in chunks rather than frequent short trips.

And he will be watched very closely. Fellow New Zealanders working in New York emailed him before he left.

"They said to me, 'Don't screw this up, Malloy, because that's what we all want to do'."