British Lessons From Edelman Australia’s Incoming CEO

With the recent shakeup of Edelman Australia’s leadership team we thought we’d find out what the new CEO Steven Spurr had in store for the public relations agency.

“It is early days but my ambition is to keep Edelman Australia at the forefront of innovative communications and marketing – helping our clients brands earn the right to stand out from the crowd and the corporations we work for be trusted enterprises,” he told B&T.

Heading Down Under from where he managed the UK and Ireland Edelman office, Spurr believes the Australian comms and marketing environment “is more competitive, creative and integrated than most”.

His core lesson from the Poms is having a team with three things: talent, teamwork and curiosity.

“Curiosity keeps the talent at the forefront of innovation and teamwork helps us navigate the change,” he said.

“Change is the new normal for our industry be that the disruption from ad blockers and evolving search algorithms or the shifting business models of platforms and publishers. This means that the relative value of different parts of marketing mix has changed too and I believe that Edelman has a strong role to play in navigating this with our clients.”

He believes Edelman is in prime position to tackle the constant disruption in the industry

“Edelman with its PR heritage and ability to create ideas and activate across earned, owned and paid channels places us in prime position to solve our clients’ business challenges,” he said, adding he’s confident in the agency’s future.

“For me, especially given marketplace disruption, I believe it is about championing that storytelling, the power of conversation and building trusted relationships are now at the centre of the marketing mix.”

The leadership changes in Edelman recently announced sees Tim Riches, current Edelman Australia CEO departing, alongside Matthew Gain, chief operating officer.

However the agency has also grabbed another two newbies with Spurr, Belinda Brett as general manager of consumer marketing and Stuart Edwards as managing director.

Of the leadership changes, CEO of Edelman Southeast Asia and Australia Iain Twine said: “Steven’s return to the Australian team is fantastic news. He is a highly-respected figure across our network, exemplifies our culture and brings to the table a depth and breadth of experience for our clients.”

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