Grey sheds old agency skin, adds Furby

• Grey rebrands Sydney office
• Now called JayGrey
• Looking at other options in region

Regional - Grey's Sydney office has shed its traditional agency skin and emerged with a new name and new face JayGrey, in partnership with creative Jay Furby, and the agency may look at other similar options around the region.

According to a statement from Grey, the new positioning pays homage to Jay Furby who has "been at the helm of the agency's bid to rise above traditional rivals and challenge Sydney's emerging landscape of ‘new' brand agencies".

"It is a combination of Furby's talent and prescience and the agency's trusted heritage that will see JayGrey rival boutique agencies. A bold move for the traditionally steadfast agency, JayGrey has unflappable support from the business's core."

Furby is a former creative head of The Furnace and Arnold in Australia, and has also had stints at DDB Sydney, Saatchi & Saatchi Australia and Saatchi & Singapore. The award-winning creative has spent the past two years outside of the advertising industry.

Grey Sydney has struggled to carve a niche out for itself and has previously been seen a very traditional agency. Paul Gardner, Grey Group Australia and New Zealand's group chairman, is confident with the new move.

"Recent ventures including the development of a digital arm, G2, designed to keep our media campaigns in line with the new media world and i-environment, have delivered great results," Gardner said.

"However, until the establishment of JayGrey, we felt there has still been a gap in our offering, namely a strong, high-profile, extremely creative Grey business in Australia's major city. We're pleased to collaborate with Jay Furby to create JayGrey, an agency that will be nimble, noisy and entrepreneurial."

Marketing asked whether there were any plans to do the same in the Grey Melbourne office or any other offices around Asia Pacific, to which Grey Group Asia Pacific's chairman and CEO, Nirvik Singh, responded: "We are constantly looking for strategic alliances or acquisitions that will work to accelerate our clients' businesses or enhance our reputation and offering."

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