Four years ago, Ron Mudge told a journalist that he wanted to be a
’mover and shaker’ and raise his profile. Four years on, Mudge has
earned people’s respect and been poached by DMB&B to fill a brand new
role (Campaign, last week), but has retained a steadfastly low
profile.
As communications director at DMB&B, he promises to renew his efforts to
attract more attention, although he adds that ’media partying doesn’t
come to me naturally’.
When he joins DMB&B sometime in the next three months, Mudge will cause
ripples as he tries to co-ordinate accounts between DMB&B’s creative
department and the media companies it works with. But Mudge is unfazed
by a role that at times will be questioned. ’From the first day I will
have to say what I’m intending to do. The trickier role is convincing
buyers that I’m not getting in the way. I’m sure there will be times
when we will have a difference of opinion, but that’s healthy.’
Mudge can show steely resolve when he wants to. His former and future
colleague, Jim Marshall, the chief executive of MediaVest, says: ’If he
thinks things aren’t right, he’s got quite a quick temper. He’s a very
strong individual and very single-minded.’
Mudge knows what he wants from his new colleagues. ’The effectiveness of
creativity is important. I want to inject creative accountability from a
media perspective. Is this advertising working, can media help, and what
have we learned from the last campaign?’ Quoted as once saying he was
’more an advertising man than a media man’ (he claims he was misquoted),
Mudge seems to be closer to his ideal with his new role. He admits that
his past ambition to get on to the creative side was handicapped. ’I
can’t write like a copywriter and my five-year-old draws better than
me.’
Mudge is essentially part of DMB&B’s efforts to prepare for battle in
1998 and improve its flagging record of account wins. His appointment
follows the hiring of Nigel Marsh and Max Burt from Abbott Mead Vickers
BBDO as marketing director and planning director respectively. DMB&B’s
managing director, Barry Cook, who worked with Mudge at Yellowhammer,
explains: ’I want us to be leading, not following. To be inventive,
clever and creative and do all these things that will make our work more
effective for clients.’ As for Mudge’s way of working, Cook says: ’He’s
a media person who really believes in advertising and recognises media
is not just about numbers, deals and lunches.’
Mudge, described by one colleague as looking like ’Andy Garcia with a
big nose’, comes across as a nice bloke, who looks after his hair (sleek
and suspiciously glossy) and is obsessed with Liverpool football club.
Marshall quips: ’He’s not quite trendy enough to be a Chelsea supporter.
His latest haircut is a hangover from the 70s, which is when Liverpool
was successful.’
Getting any personal details out of Mudge is like extracting teeth. So
what did I manage to glean from him, apart from that he’s a Liverpool
supporter, lives in Islington and has a five-year-old son? Not much. He
goes to the Pregnant Man for a few pints with colleagues, but not too
many because he says he tends to work terribly with a hangover. Digging
any dirt is well nigh impossible, partly because his old colleagues
claim the stories they have to tell are unprintable.
How convenient.
The one thing DMB&B should be aware of is Mudge’s tendency to join
companies that end up merging. He was media director at Yellowhammer
when it was taken over by DMB&B Media, which was turned into the Media
Centre. After a short, disastrous stint at the Media Works, which he
helped found with the Palace Pictures account that went bust, he joined
Alliance as media director which, in October 1993, was bought by Laing
Henry. In March 1995, Laing Henry was bought by Saatchi & Saatchi. ’I
haven’t moved much by choice!’ he admits.
Mudge admits the course of his life has not run entirely smoothly. ’We
are all allowed one huge mistake. Mine was leaving the Media Centre when
it was poised to do what it did. I was a shell-shocked by the
Yellowhammer takeover because it was very difficult.’ Let’s hope Mudge
doesn’t regret his move to DMB&B and that he will convince the people he
works with that he is a mover and shaker, and indispensable with it.
THE MUDGE FILE
1982 Downtown Advertising, media executive
1983 Grandfield Rork Collins,media executive
1987 Yellowhammer, media manager then director
1990 Media Centre, co-founder
1992 The Media Works, founding partner
1992 Alliance, media director
1993 Laing Henry, media director
1995 Saatchi & Saatchi, group media director
1997 DMB&B, communications director
