±±¾©Èü³µpk10

Stewart Easterbrook, new UK chief executive at Starcom MediaVest Group, doesn't believe in agency mottos. When promoted last month, his speech to the minions was simple. "I told them we've got to be obsessed with adding value to clients' businesses and brands - and I don't need to put that into a strapline," he says.

And this from the man heading the shop behind one of this year's most-quoted straplines, "difficult is worth doing" for Honda's live television ad - work that Easterbrook argues will add value to Honda's business and brand beyond the cost of its media placement.

You could forgive visitors to Starcom MediaVest's NoHo offices for getting confused. Enter through one side, and you arrive at MediaVest reception. Exit via another lift, and you leave through Starcom doors. This office layout neatly reflects the new organisational structure at the Publicis Groupe-owned agency following changes in May.

"The restructure set out to create a greater emphasis on the two brands - Starcom and MediaVest - which are run as distinct businesses, and offers some of our most talented people the opportunity to shape those businesses themselves," says Easterbrook, who replaced Linda Smith as chief executive when she stepped down after three years in the role.

The appointments of Alastair Bannerman and Steve Parker to managing director roles at Starcom and MediaVest respectively, marked a clear delineation between two distinct operating units within one group.

Easterbrook has been with the agency for 10 years. He joined Leo Burnett in 1997, before the media department became Starcom and when it was part of Bcom3, but his media career can be traced back to The Media Centre (DMB&B's media arm that rebranded as MediaVest), where he worked for Chris Locke and Jim Marshall, now board members.

He had just completed three months as chief operating officer before being appointed chief executive, a brief stint that could be interpreted as a rung in the succession management ladder. Those speculating further could perceive Easterbrook's recent sabbatical as a pause for breath before knowingly stepping up to the top job. "That was completely unconnected," he insists. "My wife and I had just had a baby boy, so the timing was right."

Smith's departure
Easterbrook is keen to set the record straight about Linda Smith's departure, which came hot on the heels of Starcom's loss of the £25m Cadbury account to Omnicom's PHD. So did she jump or was she pushed?

"I can clear that up," says Easter­brook. "It was absolutely Linda's decision to readdress the balance between her career and personal life. Everyone's linking it to the Cadbury loss and that's just not the case. She'll take on responsibility for future- facing projects outside of day-to-day operations, looking at how we can best equip ourselves to take on upcoming challenges." This she will do until the end of the year, before taking a new role within the group in 2009.

Starcom has suffered some major account losses of late, including Whitbread, United Biscuits and Alfa Romeo. The agency is pitching for Live Nation, E.ON and Kerry Foods, perhaps to fill these voids. Easterbrook prefers to focus on the good news from the last year and a half. He cites the agency's wins: EMI, Premier Foods (when Premier bought RHM in 2006 it was repitched and Starcom scooped the combined entity), the £20m Barratt Homes account and BT (Starcom retained the media business and won strategic planning, previously held by Mediedge:cia).

"I've just reeled off nigh on £80m to £90m worth of business," he points out. "Yes, we've had a couple of losses recently, but that happens anywhere. We've also had enormous success, which, combined with the restructure, has created a positive atmosphere. That's genuinely clear, but that internal view hasn't translated externally."

It's no secret that Smith has had talks with ZenithOptimedia chief executive Gerry Boyle about combining the agencies' media weight into a joint trading unit- a UK Publicis Groupe Media entity.

Easterbrook is mildy amused at how most reports of the BT pitch missed the secondary story within the release - the start of a nascent Publicis Groupe media offer.

Group trading
"All the headlines read ‘Starcom wins BT', but missed the other interesting part of the story," he says. "It wasn't calculated as publicity, it just seemed the logical time to announce it."

Easterbrook can confirm that the group trading unit will exist as part of Publicis Groupe's recently announced Vivaki initiative. When pushed as to who'll run the unit, he refuses to name names, but what he says is revealing: "In my point of view, Chris Locke is an absolutely magnificent operator, and I'm sure he's the leading media deal negotiator in London." Feel free to read between the lines.

These are exciting times. Vivaki will harness the group's assets including new acquisitions, pulling together properties such as digital agency Digitas  - "a powerful entity in its own right in the US, but less so in the UK" - and making them more accessible to other Publicis business units.
Easterbrook is most enthusiastic about how this will translate into local markets.

"As a group, we've diversified interestingly, but we haven't yet drawn on that for our benefit in the UK. This is the start of a phase that will see our global acquisitions coming together," he explains. "Applying those powerful resources to this agency is the exciting bit for me."


CV
2008 Chief executive officer, Starcom MediaVest Group
2006 Group managing director, including chief operating officer stint, Starcom MediaVest Group
2004 Operations director, MediaVest
2000 Business director, Starcom Motive
1997 Group head, Leo Burnett
1996 Group head, MediaVest
1993 Account manager, IDK Media

Family Married to Jill, group strategy director at Tesco, with two young children - Evie, aged two, and Tom, five months
Hobbies Watford FC, music - he and Jim Marshall share a passion for jazz and blues
Career influences Tony Kenyon and Mark Cranmer


Easterbrook on...
Agency deals We've always traded the way we do, without agency deal arrangements, because we regard ourselves as a planning- buying operation. We deal line-by-line on behalf of our clients so they have total flexibility about how their money is deployed.

Recruitment  Clients come to us now with broader communications challenges, and we need senior people from diverse backgrounds to credibly advise them. If we continue to hire from the media agency mould, nothing will change. Over the last year, we have consciously targeted some of the most interesting talent in the business, including clients. We've brought in people with different backgrounds, such as our business director Fiona Battle. Having worked as a brand manager at MTV and for charity website, Youthnet, she has fantastic insight beyond traditional media.

Heineken's Scottish & Newcastle acquisition We have a long and positive relationship with Scottish & Newcastle, and we look forward to that continuing.