Phil Georgiadis, the chief executive of Initiative Media, is
quitting the company to join the start-up, Walker Media, as a
partner.
Georgiadis will team up with Christine Walker, the former chief
executive of Zenith Media, at the helm of the fledgling media company,
which is a joint venture with M&C Saatchi. He will take a ’significant
stake’ in the company and his equity will come out of Walker’s 50 per
cent holding.
The duo will work together to position Walker Media as an operation
based on a high service ethic and a select team of quality people.
Walker said she had been looking for a partner with integrity and the
ability to help shape the Walker Media brand, and that Georgiadis has
strengths and capabilities complementary to her own.
’Phil has pretty much got what I haven’t got,’ Walker explained. ’He’s
more capable than I am of standing back and digesting what the marketing
issues are. He’s a deep and lateral thinker and, in terms of helping our
clients to shape their business, Phil will bring an added
dimension.’
Georgiadis said that the opportunity to have an interest in a company
like Walker Media was too good to miss. ’I wouldn’t leave Initiative to
do a similar job with another company. But Walker Media feels big and
bold and it will find a market. This is about having fun doing something
from scratch.’
He leaves Initiative after one of its most successful years, winning the
pounds 90 million media planning and buying task for Peugeot-Citroen in
the summer and restructuring to strengthen the management team. ’It
feels exciting to leave while I’m on top,’ Georgiadis added.
Marie-Jose Forissier, the chairman of Initiative Media Worldwide, said
she could appreciate Georgiadis’s decision to launch a new company
jointly.
’He leaves Initiative as a very different operation from the one he
joined,’ she added. ’Then it was an unexploited goldmine. Phil has
unveiled the strength of the team there and attracted new talent. It’s
now an extremely strong operation.’
