Barry O’Brien makes the calls, does the in-person meets – and keeps rolling out the one liners. He’s co-founded or launched and sold three media agencies – Atomic 212 was acquired by Publicis in December last year – and drawn swords with billionaire media moguls. He survived working with media agency doyen Harold Mitchell and “average” behaviour from blue chip advertiser clients.
All of it, he says, has been grounded by engaging with people and building relationships that, for his part at least, are bankable.
It’s the antithesis of a rapid automation and tech wave where self-service and efficient transactions are lead kpis for success, a point O’Brien readily agrees is the way of business. But he argues keeping some of the old school stuff – the traits often dismissed by digital natives – are what will ultimately differentiate individuals and business in a rapidly automated world.
When Atomic 212 was fighting for survival during the dark period O’Brien speaks of in 2018 – some holding company bosses at the time were licking their chops at the prospect of buying a strong agency asset at a panic price after it was hit with a wave of crises linked to former partner Jason Dooris. O’Brien says it was the calibre and depth of the relationships with clients – big ones – that kept them sticking with the business until it weathered the storm.
“Our dark period was our dark period,” he says, reluctantly. “We had massive debt. We also had belief, we also had very good people and clients with understanding that backed us and we worked our way through it.”
A few years earlier when Dick Smith controversially ceased trading and former private equity owner, Anchorage Capital, faced much heat, it was media relationships that helped the agency navigate through millions in liabilities that…
The two-day festival transferred to downtown Loudonville on Saturday. Credit: Hayden Gray 
