Naked Communications founder Adam Ferrier is joining CumminsRoss as chief strategy officer.
The former founding partner and global head of behavioural science at Naked, who announced he had resigned just over two weeks ago, is also joining CumminsRoss as an equity partner, taking part-ownership of the business.
Ferrier, who lives in Melbourne where CumminsRoss is also based, told B&T: “I have had a lot of involvement with Sean Cummins, Cummins and Partners and CumminsRoss over the years. We have worked with each other a few times and have competed against each other too, but I have always been really impressed by their work. They are nice, smart people and I am excited about joining them.”
He will be starting at CumminsRoss in early December. As chief strategy officer, Ferrier will be working closely alongside Kirsty Muddle, head of strategy and media.
He added that he is also excited to be joining an independent agency with a difference, saying: “The old proverb quoted by Matchbox20 says it best –‘every new beginning comes from some other beginnings end’.
It's really exciting to be joining an agency with such a progressive business model, but at the same time sad to be leaving an agency that had such a significant impact on the industry. But I'm of course elated to be joining an independent agency again.”
On leaving Naked, he told B&T: “I was excited to be leaving Naked, to be frank. I had put my heart and soul into my nine years there and had been very excited about what we had achieved for people to turn up to every day. But I am still very future-focused.
“There has been a lot of change at Naked and there will continue to be a lot more as they continue to evolve to their next stage.”
Sean Cummins, CEO at CumminsRoss, said: “I have known Adam and of his work for years. Whilst he was a fierce competitor and intellect, I couldn’t help myself agreeing with him and wanting to work with him.
“Adam is daring, brave and swashbuckling, and he makes people think better. To be able to think radical you must also first be logical, and Adam has a searing common sense.”
Cummins added that his agency has big plans for the future: “Our agency is not content with being boutique in size. We owe it to our clients to have the best in the business. It’s time to scale up.”
CumminsRoss is also the first creative agency to be bringing media and creative back together.
Ferrier said: “The other reason I’m so attracted to CumminsRoss is that they have quietly put the genie back into the bottle and put creative and media back together. It’s the most modern and strongest agency business model in Australia.”
