MEDIA: headliner; Grey entices misunderstood media chief in from the cold

Julian Neuburger has the chance to show his worth at Grey, Claire Beale

says

From oblivion to Brazil to Grey in the space of three months. Julian

Neuburger, former doyen, is back - with a bit of a whimper, but head

held high.

The only media director to be confused with a feisty female rabbi,

Neuburger last week resurfaced as a senior vice-president at Grey, in

charge of the Warner Brothers account (Campaign, 16 August).

Strange appointment, some say. It’s not your typical media man’s job -

combining, as it does, account management with a sort of strategic media

overview. And Neuburger’s not your typical choice, combining, as he did,

a poor track record at Media Solutions with sudden unemployment.

Media Solutions, the GGT/CIA joint venture of which Neuburger was chief

executive until earlier this summer, has not had a happy time since its

launch in 1994. Major business walked, including Post Office Counters,

and little replaced it. The company was going nowhere and the casual

observer undoubtedly blamed Neuburger.

Others point out the difficulties of reporting to two plcs, neither of

which are gagging to invest in the brand, of being accountable but not

responsible for what happens to the bottom line. Mitigating

circumstances, then. But is Neuburger any good? Well those who know him

say yes (those who don’t, laugh, but we’ll come to that later).

Neuburger has worked with some talented people in his time, people who

say he’s not just good, he’s great. People like Jonathan Durden, a

partner at New PHD, who praises Neuburger’s sheer passion for matters

media. ‘In a business where so many people are cynical, it’s great to

find someone with Julian’s passion and intensity,’ Durden says.

With this intensity comes pride, professional and personal. Pride - or

is it vanity? - keeps him down the gym working on his body beautiful.

Pride, in truth, was perhaps also partly responsible for his virtual

disappearance from public life in recent years. As Media Solutions lost

business, Neuburger shied away from the publicity which was trying to

portray him as a failure. He wants to be right, all the time. He admits

to ‘a short fuse because I don’t like to be wrong’.

He finds it hard to tolerate others’ professional weaknesses, too.

Durden remembers the young Neuburger who used to send inexperienced

sales reps flying from his office in distress, having felt the rough of

his tongue. ‘He could be quite vicious if people didn’t make the grade,’

Durden recalls.

For many this is Neuburger distilled. Gruff, curt, monotone bark, the

speaker who directed an entire conference lecture at his chin. Neuburger

isn’t bursting with natural charm. A casual glance fails to find a

personality. In fact, those who don’t know him often dislike him and

write him off as undynamic and ineffectual. Odd that such strangers

should have so fixed a view. ‘I know some people have a negative

impression of me,’ Neuburger admits sweetly, ‘but you can’t work in this

business for 20 years without a few people thinking you’re a shit.’

Yet fans are legion. Once you get to know old Julian, they say, you get

to love him. ‘He’s very funny,’ insist friends such as CIA’s finance

director, Johan Denekamp, ‘and a great and loyal friend.’ Durden also

identifies his ‘great sense of fun’.

Neuburger himself says he’s felt humbled by the number of people who

offered their encouragement and support during the testing time called

unemployment, which hit suddenly this summer.

Here’s the story. Neuburger is the chief at Media Solutions but likes

the sound of being media director of J. Walter Thompson in S‹o Paulo.

JWT tells the world that it’s finally filled the job after a long trawl.

Neuburger hands in his notice and waves goodbye to Media Solutions. Then

the contract arrives, and it’s not what he thought it was. He doesn’t

sign and is left floundering for the summer while the industry gossips

gleefully pick over the debacle.

At 42, Neuburger was ready to take a broader international role. Some

say it was a case of go before you’re pushed - all’s well that saves

face and brings in some dosh - but whatever the reason, Neuburger leapt

blindly out of the Media Solutions nest.

He is clearly enthused by his new role, though, ranting, can’t-get-a

word-in-edgeways style, about this ‘very interesting lateral move’.

Neuburger’s passion and enthusiasm are certainly tangible, and in

harnessing these qualities alongside his 20 years’ media experience,

Grey may just have made a pretty smart move.

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The Neuburger file

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1975  TMD, media assistant

1975  KMP, media assistant

1978 BBDO, media planner/buyer

1978 French Gold Abbott, media planner/buyer

1981 GGT, deputy media director

1982 GGT, media director

1994  Media Solutions, chief executive

1996 Grey Europe, senior vice-president

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This article was first published on Campaign