'Lack of great marketers' decried as M.J. Bale eyes campaign extension

Whybin\TBWA CEO Paul Bradbury has urged brands to take decisions based on leadership, not committees, adding a “lack of great marketers” in big business is hampering brave work.

Speaking at last night’s Bravery on a Budget event run by B&T, Bradbury said there was no reason lessons from the multi-award winning MJ Bale Grazed on Greatness campaign could not be used by big business.

Susie Thompson, marketing director for the suit maker, also flagged they are looking to extend the campaign, and is looking at possibly using Wimbledon, Flemington, and iconic music festival venue Glastobury, for its next iterations.

The original campaign used grass seeded from the Sydney Cricket Ground to make suits for the Australian cricket team, picked up five Cannes Lions, including two golds, and the B&T PR Campaign and Best use of Sponsorship Awards.

Revealing the campaign, which was born from the “insight” the one common factor between the cricket team and the sheep which produce the wool is grass, took 18-months from inception to birth, including several wrangles with Aussie cricket officials and players.

When asked by an audience member about the number of brave marketers in Australia Bradbury replied: “There are very few brave clients at big companies. One of the real issues Australian advertising faces is a lack of great marketers.

“We have encountered some good ones. Normally they are decisive types who don’t rely on committees to approve work and as a result are brave.”

At the same event 18 Feet and Rising’s CEO Ben Colman talked about three of his best campaigns, one for Diet Coke launching the new flavours, one for MTV’s local content launch using rapper Snoop Dogg’s attempts to enter Australia, and the Lynx Jet promotion, which stirred anger among feminist groups.

He said the key learnings from these campaigns had been to “think big” as “every brief is an opportunity for greatness” and to share the risk between client and agency, which “can inspire brave work”.

Asked whether there is a difference between a good idea and a brave idea he answered simply: “No, I don’t think there is.”

He also emphasized the importance of the client-agency relationship saying: “I’ve had more success selling brave ideas to clients out of the office in bars and restaurants than in a boardroom with eight or nine people sat around. That is not the place to sell brave ideas.”

B&T is running another Bravery on a Budget event in Melbourne on May 8. More details will be released soon.

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