Aussie advertising star buys back stake from ailing PwC

PwC launched the division at a time when global consulting agencies were jostling with each other to beef up their marketing and advertising capabilities.

Thinkerbell has since become a multi-award-winning agency, finishing runner-up in British magazine Campaign’s global agency of the year in 2023.

A former advertising executive, Howcroft subsequently joined Sayers Brand Momentum, a unit of former PwC Australia chief executive Luke Sayers’ boutique advisory business – Sayers Group, in 2021 as a founding partner.

PwC folded CMO Advisory into its customer and experience team in 2021 after major players including Howcroft, Justin Papps, Nicky Bryson and Genevieve Reynolds shifted across to the Sayers Group.

PwC missed out on the purchase of creative shop The Monkeys in 2017, eventually bought by Accenture for $63 million, which after purchasing British agency Karmarama in 2016, later added Australian David Droga’s Madison Avenue agency Droga5 in 2019 for $US475 million.

Another Australian agency, The Works, was bought by French technology consulting firm Capgemini in 2019 as part of a $95 million takeover of ASX-listed RXP Services.

The consultancies have also often poached top local creative talent, with Deloitte nabbing heavyweight staff from advertising agency McCann a decade ago to set up its Australian outfit, Deloitte Digital.

It later hired ad executive Nick Garrett, who left Clemenger BBDO in 2019, to lead marketing and commerce for Deloitte globally.

KPMG counts several former advertising executives as leads on its own division, KPMG Customer, while EY has also taken steps of its own.

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Adam Ferrier, co-founder and partner at Thinkerbell, said the agency has grown significantly since its inception and was now ready to strike out on its own.

“Thinkerbell has grown from a few people in a share house to an agency of around 160 people across Melbourne, Sydney and New Zealand. It’s time to part ways and explore our next adventure,” he said.

“This is a corporate conscious uncoupling, but to quote the song, ‘every new beginning comes from some other new beginning’s end.’”

The deal to buy back its shares from PwC was finalised last Friday, as the professional services giant continues to manage the extensive fallout from the tax leak scandal.

PwC also took the decision to not publish its annual Entertainment and Media Outlook report in Australia this year, which would have been its 22nd edition. The firm was approached for comment, while director of CMO Advisory Dan Robins declined to comment.

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