'There’s a new way of doing things in 2014' – Wayne Deakin tells The Drum why he chose Doner London over the 'really big famous name agencies'
“There’s a divide in agency culture at the moment and the ones that are doing the good work are the ones who are putting the consumer first,” said Wayne Deakin, executive creative director at Doner London.
Speaking with The Drum at the end of his first week with the agency, Deakin explained his reasons for joining Doner over “really big famous name agencies” who were courting him following his departure from Jam earlier this year.
“The world’s changed since the 1950s when a lot of these agency models were established,” Deakin said.
“Doner has been on a real growth spurt and they’re a famous agency that has been around for a very long time. They did the original ‘Holidays are coming’ for Coca-Cola and I thought here’s a great agency that has had a great past and looks like it’s going to have a great future.”
With many agencies choosing to specialise in one particular area, the former Jam creative chief said he was lured by the fact that Doner “isn’t trying to be a digital or social agency, they’re just trying to do great work and there’s a real appetite in the agency for that now”.
He added: “We want to grow and do famous work and they trust me to help with that, that’s what appealed to me. I’m was looking for a new challenge to get on board with and something that would allow me to blend advertising, digital and social together in a new way.
“There’s a bullshit word called integration and a lot of people think integration is like matching luggage, it’s not. There’s a new way of doing things in 2014, it’s about speaking to the consumer in a new way and helping brands touch consumers in a whole new light. Messages can come from Pinterest or TV or radio but the message that they carry is the same, that’s proper integration.”
By his own admission the role of helping “reinvent the London offering” is likely to be a challenge but talking on a role sitting in a “glass office signing off work” had no appeal.
“At Doner it’ll be about putting the ideas first and respecting where those ideas work best. It’s not about trying to be a Jack of all trades; it’s about focussing and putting energy into capturing those different touch points in the right way,” he explained.
“The clients we have really do have an appetite for going at things like a challenger brands and those kinds of clients are the ones who want to succeed and succeed quickly. There’s a lot of expectations and there’s a big hill to climb but it’s a great opportunity.”
He added: “As an agency Doner is all about thinking where the message is going to hit and then deconstructing it and that’s exactly how I want to work, we want to leverage how marketing works now, not how it worked 50 years ago.”
Current Doner clients include Jeep, Nikon, Alpha Romeo and Fiat to name but a few.