HEADLINER: Emap’s rock ’n’ roll proposal lures top buyer to sales side - Eleanor Trickett on David Hipkiss’s decision to quit BBJ Media for Emap On Air

There are always tricky manoeuvres when someone is in the process

of changing jobs. Not only in having to leave messages in code in case

someone is listening, but also finding somewhere to meet while the

cleaners are ’filing’ the contents of the old desk and nailing someone

else’s name to the door.

Which is how I came to interview David Hipkiss - on the hop, in a pub in

Hammersmith, getting ketchup on my notebook from the food debris on the

garden bench. He’s just come back from his last client meeting for BBJ

Media Services, before joining Emap On Air as account director under its

managing director, Tom Toumazis (Campaign, last week).

As a founder member of BBJ, the challenge of getting something new off

the ground for the second time in his career was a huge factor in

Hipkiss’s decision to quit what appeared to be a job for life. Another

reason is Tom Toumazis, who hired him. Toumazis is ’thrilled to bits’

about his new signing, and it is this kind of cheerful attitude that

Hipkiss is looking forward to dealing with.

’There is a very big difference in the management styles of Jerry

(Buhlmann, BBJ’s managing director) and Tom,’ he says. ’Tom is outgoing,

while Jerry has more of a ’what’s this then?’ attitude.’

Buhlmann is philosophical about Hipkiss’s departure. ’All good things

come to an end,’ he says. ’He’s been with us man and boy and has

contributed a lot to the company. We all wish him well.’

Hipkiss was not scouring the papers looking for a new job. ’I was

sitting at my desk considering my TV deals for 1998, and the phone

rang,’ he explains.

’Suddenly, I was faced with the irresistible combination of Tom

Toumazis, Tim Schoonmaker and a new project in a company the size of

Emap. It’s the classic ’gamekeeper-turned-poacher’ thing.’

Hipkiss’s promotion from head of radio to TV buying director was

puzzling to some. BBJ’s Mr Radio was suddenly out there, blinking in the

glaring TV arena after the smoky den of radio negotiation. Mind you, he

does not like the ’Oh, just gimme six months of drivetime for Carphone

Warehouse.

Fancy a pint?’ method of planning. Here is the man who said to the

Carling Black Label men: ’Hey, how does the FA Premiership sound to

you?’

Hipkiss admits his move into TV was a wrench. ’In hindsight, I was a bit

reluctant and, without wanting to cast aspersions on TV, it was a move I

regretted somewhat. Radio is full of friendly people, and I had the

advantage that there still aren’t an enormous number of agency people

who know an awful lot about it.’

The Emap On Air appointment is the opening he was waiting for, and

Hipkiss is keen to see what the changing market will throw up. ’The

element of competition has been lacking up until now, especially with

Capital’s domination.

The customer can only benefit from having more of us battling it

out.’

Emap has distinct advantages over other stations for someone who is used

to a mixed-media environment. ’It covers such a wide area, that if

you’re selling it, you’re pretty much selling the whole of radio. We can

also cross-promote and cross-sell like no other radio company, as the

magazine side of the business is such a huge force,’ Hipkiss says.

The creative side of radio planning is something Hipkiss has always been

particularly excited about. ’Radio is so flexible in terms of lead times

that you can offer so much more to the marketers who are crying out for

innovation,’ he explains. ’You can get some real through-the-line stuff

done on radio, and TV is beginning to emulate that with direct response

TV, but it’s still only trying to do something that radio has been doing

for years.’

He’s well known in the industry, having stayed in the same place for the

past nine years. One old friend, John Quinn, commercial director of

Unique Broadcasting, says: ’If he brings the same level of negotiation

to Emap in driving prices up as he did to BBJ in driving my prices down,

then Emap’s share value will go through the roof. And if his arguments

fail the first time, he’ll turn on a menacing stare. But he’s great in

the pub.

He gets his round in, and does crap impressions.’

Hipkiss goes against the grain of your average radio guy - he doesn’t

ride a motorbike for a start (’they’re for sad, middle-aged wankers’),

and he doesn’t bashfully ’confess’ to liking all sorts of music. ’I

can’t stand classical music - probably down to my scumbag background,’

he says, sipping his pint. ’I’m 30, going on 17, and I’m rock ’n’

roll.’

THE HIPKISS FILE

1984 FCB, Chicago, account director

1985 Granada TV, London, sales executive

1986 WCRS, media executive

1989 BBJ MediaServices, co-founder

1997 BBJ Media Services, TV buying director

October 1997 Emap on Air, account director

This article was first published on Campaign