Gin and bright futures for Bohemia as the agency launches brand refresh

At an industry event held in Sydney on Thursday night, media agency Bohemia unveiled a new positioning and brand refresh that taps into a combination of intelligence and intuition to “handcraft memorable media”.

The new positioning follows the appointment of Paul Hutchison, the former CEO of Wavemaker in the UK, as CEO last year. Since arriving in Australia, Hutchison has spent time with media partners, industry consultants, staff and clients to determine how Bohemia was perceived and how the agency should look in the future.

The ‘new Bohemia’ was launched at an event held at the newly transformed M&C Saatchi Group offices in the historic former Transport House on Macquarie Street, attended by more than 100 people. The event included a gin experience with Archie Rose to blend individually handcrafted gins for guests, plus DJ and musician JAZZ behind the decks.

The evening opened with Hutchison taking to the stage, thanking everyone for his warm welcome to Australia. 

Paul Hutchison

“It’s clear from what I’ve heard that over the past decade or so, Bohemia really has been a leading agency in the market here in Australia,” Hutchison began.

“I’ve also heard that, possibly, over the last two or three years, we might have been just a little bit quiet. Maybe we’ve been a bit too inward looking, and maybe we haven’t come out since the pandemic and re-told our stories. 

“One of you told me ‘when I think of Bohemia, I think of a restaurant – there’s a quiet table in the corner, and there’s a group of people engaged in what looks like a really deep, rich, and engaging conversation, but they’re not being overheard.’”

“I’m confident that with what we’re sharing today, we’ll continue to be a leading agency in the market here in Australia.”

Hutchison went on to say that Bohemia moves people.

“We move people in terms of their attitudes and beliefs about the brands that we work with. We built bias, preference, and consideration for the brands of our clients. We move people physically as well, towards purchases.

We move people as a proposition to our talent, we move people through their careers. I believe that at Bohemia we can offer people more rich and diverse career experiences that they wouldn’t get somewhere else.”

Hutchison then followed on by asking “so how do we do this?” The answer was “we do it through handcrafted, memorable media.”

Following Hutchison, National Strategy Director Max Broer, and GM Sev Griffiths took to the stage. Both welcomed Hutchison to the role, and spoke about how the future of Bohemia looks bright. 

Paul Hutchison, Sev Griffiths, Max Broer

M&C Saatchi Australia Group CEO, Justin Graham, said: “The energy in Bohemia at the moment is brilliant. This new positioning, backed by a suite of new products, feels so relevant to the changing needs of brands and is differentiated in the industry. It will offer an even stronger point of connection for end-to-end solutions across the M&C Saatchi Group.

“The good news is it's already resonating with clients based on the recent new business success under Hutch’s leadership.”