Austin Begg

In September 2002 the Australian Financial Review referred to Austin Begg as an ‘industry stalwart’ which accurately describes him and recognises his many attributes and achievements. Austin’s highly successful career spans 30 years as a client, advertising agency owner/Principal/CEO/Chairman and in recent years a marketing strategist and transformation specialist focusing on enhancing brand equity and shareholder return on investment.
Austin has a proven track record of marketing successes across many FMCG, automotive, fashion, financial and tourism companies and brands. He has consistently demonstrated a prowess for entrepreneurial thinking incorporating innovative strategies and creative solutions. Never one to follow the queue of mediocrity, Austin’s career achievements have been based on close collaboration with his clients and forging and implementing the most challenging options and winning. One good example of this dynamic thinking is evident in his role in the transformation of the Victorian Racing Industry and the re positioning and re branding of the Spring Racing Carnival in 1993-4.
Austin Begg has created three highly successful advertising agencies from scratch and has helped create many of Australia’s most successful brands – Cadbury, Bob Jane T Marts, SPC Baked Beans & Spaghetti, Monbulk Jam, Sorbent Toilet Tissue, SoyFresh, Valencio, Victorian Racing Industry/Spring Racing Carnival, GloWeave, BRW Magazine to name a few.
In 1972 Austin was recruited to establish the Melbourne office of Young & Rubicam which he successfully built into a $15m agency in three years and in 1975 he created Begg Dow Priday which became the 20th largest agency in Australia until it was sold to J Walter Thompson. Austin Begg & Partners was created in 1983 and was sold/merged with the multinational agency Lintas in 1992 when Austin was appointed Managing Director and a Director on the Australian board. The Lintas office was in serious decline with billings of $16m and a staff of 35. When Austin resigned six years later he had increased billings to $36m and trebled profits.
In 1999 Austin recognised that the advertising business was under seige and established Frenzy Consulting Group to provide brand strategy and integrated marketing services to a growing number of clients who had lost confidence in the traditional advertising agency. Foundation clients included eChoice, Asthma Australia, Worldmark, MotorOne and Schiavello. In March 2005 Austin entered into a joint venture with JML Australia to establish JML Brand Capital with the goal of creating a strategic marketing organisation specialising in creating, developing, managing, value adding, protecting and transforming brands.
Austin likes to refer to himself as a strategist and 'hands - on' entrepreneur. He has an unblemished track record of successful achievements across a myriad of diverse brands and corporations. He can smell success and failure very quickly and reckons anyone can be successful if they are prepared to take considered risks and build a committed team to plan and implement their goals. This is reflected in a recent announcement from South Pacific Tyres that the Traffic branding and business model for Goodyear Autocare will be launched across 13 countries in Asia in 2007-8.