After 54 years in advertising, Greg ‘Sparrow’ Graham is retiring.
B&T’s editorial consultant and bon vivant will have his final day with the business later in June.
His retirement calls time on a glittering career in the industry. Sparrow has lived through some of the industry’s greatest changes: the shift away from full service, the digital revolution and now the onset of AI.
Sparrow’s career has taken him all over the world. From the small logging town of Wauchope just outside Port Macquarie to the bright lights of New York, London, Cannes and, most recently, Cairns.
“After 54 years, I’m inspired and excited. But I’m fucking retiring!” said Sparrow, who started in the industry in the mailroom at McCann back in 1972. From there, Sparrow would spend time with DDB Needham, Leo Burnett, J. Walter Thompson and Mindshare.
“It’s time. I’ve had a great run in the industry. There aren’t many people who have lasted 54 years and I’m going out on my terms. It’s been an amazing ride and I’ve loved every moment of it.”
The MFA Hall of Fame inductee said launching Mindshare, living in New York for seven years and launching the Cairns Crocodiles Awards were his three greatest career highlights.
It’s rare that people last half a century in a particular industry. It’s even rarer that they leave with so many friends—including, so we’re told, one Heidi Klum.
Prescience has often been Sparrow’s strong suit. Many of the recent initiatives and changes on B&T have resulted from his deep knowledge of the market, for example. But he was also keen to point out that he called the digital revolution.
“I thought it might work. I knew it had potential. I just wish I had bought some shares!” he said.
What happens for the B&T and The Misfits team remains to be seen. But we’ll be a less energising place without him. We’ll certainly be a quieter place, too.
“For every single one of us at B&T and The Misfits, working with Sparrow has been a career highlight. During his four years with the company, he’s shown more drive than an F1 racer, more energy than a sugar-jacked kid and more intellect than every agency strategy division put together,” said Dan Uglow, Co-Founder, The Misfits.
“Sparrow has helped put B&T on top, and he’s been instrumental in building the Cairns Crocodiles into a world-renowned advertising and marketing festival.
“Sparrow’s legend status was well known to us before he joined The Misfits; now his best mate status carries our relationship forward.”
“I remember serving as acting editor of B&T in 2013 and one of the very first people to ring me and demand I tell him my story was Greg Sparrow Graham,” added David Hovenden, CEO and co-founder of The Misfits.
“Within minutes, we were laughing and agreeing to catch up for a meal. Some 13 years later, that laughter and appreciation for the virtues of a particularly fine meal have been the one constant within our friendship. We have been lucky to have him as part of the Misfits and B&T team for the final act of his storied career. For me, if Sparrow thinks he’s getting away from our lunches, he’s got another thing coming.
Tom Fogden, editor of B&T, had this to say: “At Sparrow’s 70th birthday, I told him that his impact on the business had, quite literally, changed my life. I might have had a couple of shandies at that point. But I stand by what I said.
“There’s nobody quite like Sparrow. I feel honoured to have worked with him.”
