Katie Mackin on Passion's Melbourne Move

Australia is on everyone’s lips today after the national team’s Cricket World Cup triumph at the weekend but away from the sporting world, Passion  has recently opened a new office in Melbourne and will be aiming to work with the region’s most talented creatives to emulate what its other international offices have achieved for the company.

Heading up the base in Oz is executive producer Katie Mackin, a 10-year Passion veteran previously working on Compare the Market and Nike at the London office, who recently returned to her homeland to take up the new post.

For the past two years Katie Mackin has been collaborating with VCCP Sydney on its Compare the Market work [including Undercover Sergei, below] from Passion’s London office but recently made the move to Melbourne to take up the new EP post at the new Passion base.

Below, Mackin tells us what appealed about the move, her hopes and vision for the new company and why it's an exciting time for creative Down Under.

What initially appealed to you about heading up the base in Australia?

Having worked in the London office for the most part of 10 years, I always hoped I’d have the opportunity to bring the Passion Pictures genius back to the local market that I cut my teeth on. The agencies in the Australasian region create some of the most innovative work on the international ad scene so I’m really excited to get our directors working on projects here.

And why was it the time right for the company to turn its focus on the region?

We have a couple of established relationships which we’re looking to grow in the coming years, as well as expanding and capturing some of the other great campaign work in the region. Passion has several directors based locally too, including Julian Frost (Dumb Ways To Die) and one of Passion’s most experienced directors, John Robertson, who has recently returned to his hometown of Auckland.

We’re bringing art and individual animation styles at a time when creativity is flourishing and demands the most variety in talent. We want to provide a solution for out-of-the-box concepts and execution by working with artists who have a passion for creativity.

The opening has been inspired by the Compare the Market campaign through London; do you think it could be considered a risk to hinge the leap off the back of one client?

There’s always a risk when you branch out, but I’m confident we’ll be fine. We have an amazing roster of directors based both locally and abroad and it’s not like we’re a start up company. We have offices in London, Paris and New York that are run by experienced, talented people who we can rely on for guidance and assistance if needed.

We’ll work closely with our international studios, producing scripts from their territories in Melbourne with our local directors, as well as aspiring to work on projects originating from Australia and NZ so we won’t be solely reliant on work from this new market. We’re looking forward to having a creative hub based in Melbourne where work from around the globe is produced.

Do you think it’ll take much to adapt back to the local market, considering you’re time away?

I think there will be a little teething period, yes! The ad industry changes so rapidly and has probably done so more in the last decade than in the 30 years preceding it. I’m amazed at how much more innovative and clever the concepts coming out of this market have been since I left 10 years ago.  It’s fresher work than ever before with Australia and New Zealand becoming real contenders in the international scene and the work is being acknowledged by an impressive amount of award show wins.

Clients seem to be braver than they once were and there is a breadth of talent able to serve that willingness to take risks creatively. Along with this change in thinking is the typical Aussie and Kiwi warmth, so I’m sure I’ll find my feet before too long!

What’s your favourite ad campaign or piece of creativity from the Australasian market recently and why?

Honda Dreamrun

That’s a difficult question with so much quality work being created by local talent! I really like this spot. It incorporates typical Aussie humour, along with a strong narrative and high-end VFX; overall a beautiful, filmic piece of work. It’s also about dreaming, which resonates nicely with me.

What do you miss most about the London ad scene/creative community and ways of working over here?

I already miss the vibrant community of Soho, working amongst a melting pot of talent from around the globe. London has influenced me greatly and over the years given me so much creative inspiration.

I’ll miss the variety of art, artists and exhibitions but it’s refreshing to see that Melbourne and Sydney, in comparison to when I left, both have thriving art scenes and are attracting international talents to our shores.

We seem to be more open to the idea of working with the international market as opposed to producing work locally so I hope that, within my new working environment, it’s not going to feel too different. Outside of work, it’s difficult to say what I’ll miss most between the long grey rainy days or the weekend trips to Paris.

And will the Melbourne office work with the existing Passion bases and teams in other cities, or be separate and take on new clients/jobs?

We’ll work very closely with the London, New York and Paris offices. We’re hoping that our directors from the international offices will come to Melbourne, and that our local directors will work with scripts from the UK, Paris and US. Just because we’re all the way down here doesn’t mean we can’t work with agencies in Europe – in fact, sometimes it makes things easier because we can work while they sleep and they have new WIPs to look at in the morning! On the flipside, we may also produce work coming out of the AU and NZ markets in the London, Paris or New York studios.

What are your hopes for the future of the office and opportunities for the company in the future?

I hope we can grow Passion Pictures Melbourne into a fun, creative working environment that our directors and crew will enjoy creating brilliant projects in. I want us to earn a stellar reputation in the Australian and NZ markets as a high-end choice for animation scripts and for our pioneering work in new forms of technology such as real time puppeteering and VR. I also want to plug in to the local arts scene and get involved with new things that could take our creative output to new heights.