Page 36 - AdNews Magazine Jan-Feb 2021

Adelaide’s Own
Mark Elsdon, a leading advertising agency principal in the Adelaide market for over 30 years, owns and operates Jarvis Marketing and OMD Adelaide. The only locally owned fully resourced strategic, creative and media agency in South Australia.
I’ve been an ad agency principal for longer than most people working in the ad business have been alive. That scares me a bit, but it’s been a privilege to work with some great SA businesses over the years and play a small part in their success. Longevity and experience is only valuable if you keep your offer relevant, embrace change and surround yourself with talented people.
We’ve done that with great senior staff that have been with us for over a decade, together with developing a group of young guns who have added ideas and energy.
Daniel Martinovich heads up our creative team, Mel Elsdon our digital team and Kristy Admiraal our media team. It’s a powerful full-service combination.
Adelaide’s oldest ad agency
Owning Adelaide’s oldest ad agency Jarvis Marketing established in 1977 together with
the local office of the largest media agency in the country, and agency of the decade, OMD Adelaide makes us unique. It gives us the power of a global brand and access to the best media tools and resources, but with the benefit of being a small 12-person team focused on providing clients great partnerships and outcomes because we are focused on being the best rather than the largest agency in town.
I’ve been lucky that clients generally find their way to us out of a need so we have rarely been focused on growth or pitched for business unless we think it would be a great partnership and
that we can add value. While the ad industry in Adelaide has been challenged over the last few years, we have been as busy as ever without a single hour or productivity lost.
Management Team
Standing:
Creative Director: Daniel Martinovich, Media Director: Kristy Admiraal, Seated:
Managing Director: Mark Elsdon, Digital Director: Mel Elsdon
Successful advertising has always been
about persuading people to want things by communicating a simple promise of benefit that is valued. The most effective way of doing that is through emotive or entertaining advertising to make people feel something for a product
or service. Today we just have a lot more communication channels to deliver
the message.
Any agency can do process
Any agency can process orders but true advertising thinking is rare. Our business is
built on ideas. A simple, strong idea that engages is the most powerful communications tool. People don’t see advertising, they see what interests them. Advertising is about attracting attention to a product. Until a brand has a personality is will not be believed.
Creativity is not a function of size
Creativity is not a function of size, small can be wonderful. We build brand personalities and talk to customers about things that interest them.
I’m very confident that the local SA business market will be resilient as it always is in tough times. Adelaide is made up of challenger brands. That is brands in all categories that
are dominated by nationals and internationals who get the lion’s share of consumer spending. Although we are experiencing a seismic shift in consumer habits, we haven’t seen in our lifetime. Sentiment has shifted to be more tribal and supporting local business. Customers supporting their own backyard.
“We invest our client’s $$$ as if they were our own”