SOUTH Australia-based agency Killey Withy Punshon is losing one member of its brand name. After 11 years with the agency, art director Lyn Punshon has announced his plan to leave.
Punshon told B&T he wanted to return to his craft as an art director and planned to team up with several freelance writers that he enjoyed working with.
“I want to see what opportunities there are to that and to also do some TV and film directing,” Punshon said.
“Really the aim is just to reduce the stress levels and get back to doing some creative work. I’ve been in the industry for 30 years and I thought I might like to try something a bit different for the next ten years.
“I have a documentary project as well that I would like to reignite now that I will have the time.
“Really the aim is just to slow down and have some fun.”
Punshon said one of the down sides of running an agency was that the bosses steadily became removed from the craft they enjoyed.
“It is the case that as you get further into the management side of things you get to do much less hands on work,” Punshon said.
“But you also have a lot of other people coming up and you need to let them come through as well.”
Punshon became a partner in KWP in March 1993 when he joined founders and former colleagues from Clemenger Adelaide Andrew Killey and Peter Withy in their then two-year-old agency. At that stage it had a total of five staff—including the three directors. Now it employs more than 50 people and has added Brisbane and Melbourne agencies.
Punshon had previously been with Clemenger for ten years including five years as creative director of Clemenger Adelaide, where he began working with Killey and Withy.
Before that he was with Hertz Walpole, the agency that gave him his start in advertising as a 20-year-old.
Of his 11 years with KWP, Punshon said one of the most memorable projects he had worked on was the Secrets campaign for the agency’s flagship client SA Tourism. The campaign has been hailed by the tourism body for its effectiveness in helping to build the state’s tourism industry.
KWP’s Withy said he expected that Punshon would continue to work for the agency and that there were no plans to alter the agency’s eponymous name as a result of his departure as director.
“It’s been a pretty good brand name for us and we don’t go messing around with good brands,” Withy said.
Punshon will resign his partnership with KWP at the end of this month.
