Pace began as the in-house advertising department of Heaths Motors, a Ford dealership, and was established in 1964.
Since those foundational years, the Geelong-based agency has grown, developed, and evolved into the modern and diverse company it is today. It is one of the longest-serving agencies in the country that is also family owned and operated.
Account director Ed Jones spoke to Mediaweek about Pace’s long-standing partnerships with clients, being part of the family business and the agency’s future in sustainability.
Keeping it in the family
While his family ran the agency, Jones shared that his journey to his role wasn’t direct. He shared that he initially studied medicine before pursuing aviation and then doing private consultations and marketing strategies in the field.
“Then I ended up finding myself enjoying everything here at the agency. It’s a very diverse place, and my grandfather started it up.
“It was never my plan to go into marketing, advertising, events, or anything like that. But funnily enough, I just stumbled across happiness, which was very unpredicted,” he said.
Unlike most, Jones dipped his toe into the media industry growing up.
“I used to get dragged in here during school holidays because of the family tie-ins. I was brought into the art department or whatever I could be useful in between school holidays, so call it child labour,” he joked.
Jones shared that he officially began working with Pace 13 years ago temporarily while studying medicine. He said: “Before long, I had found myself intertwined with a number of our key accounts, and it was just fun. So, I stuck around.”
The leadership and the team
Pace is led by Jones’ uncle Nicholas Heath who has been at the agency’s helm for over two decades. He noted that during the 1990s, Heath focused on sustainability and long-term planning for the agency.
“He (Heath) was trying to get the agency to a point where you didn’t have to think where next week’s wages were coming. With retail, automotive and other clients at that time, work was seasonal,” Jones explained.
“You had four extremely painful peak workloads a year and often some lulls in between, So cash flow was not part of the operation,” he added.
Jones said that his uncle examined retainer base models and long-term contracts. He also noted that Heath landed key accounts in sectors such as healthcare, government, and tourism, which gave the agency plenty of continued momentum.
Jones continued: “The agency will be 60 years old in 2024 and has just been going through the most excruciatingly painful but most rapid period of growth in the agency’s history. It’s pretty gun-ho at the moment.”
Jones shared that he is often his uncle’s right-hand man to their team of 24, along with two recent full-time additions and eight regular subcontractors.
Combining broad skill sets with a nimble approach
Pace has four facets as an agency – marketing, advertising and media, events and digital – that work collaboratively.
“It’s probably the most diverse and comprehensive range of services all under one roof. It’s done and dusted in there,” Jones said.
Jones noted many of their clients go to them with complex problems that require a consolidated team to fix the issue and deliver while working as an integrated team with their organisation.
“That broad skill set is super useful for our strengths. It is pretty rare,” he said.
Jones noted that over the years, they adopted strategic recruitment to hire people and build a solid team of hardworking and passionate people who bring intelligence, integrity and capability to the team.
“We’re able to solve very complex things and quite nimbly have small or large organisations. We’re finding that many small and large organisations with complex problems need people like us. It’s busy, which is a good thing.”
Still going strong
Jones shared the agency still has some of its foundation clients to this day, in addition to maintaining long-standing client partnerships, noting their average client tenure is over ten years.
“Of course, we have projects and things that come and go at a much shorter timeline than that, but our client relationships last long,” he said.
Jones noted the agency’s previous work with the likes of Shell, Alcoa, Viva Energy, and Haymes paint, as well as healthcare clients and ASX-listed companies.
“Some clients may have reshaped or changed along the way because we’re talking decades. But we have many clients that have been around a long time, to the point where they have more changeover than we do, and we end up being the basket of knowledge,” he said.
Jones continued: “There have been some accounts where we have held the baton as they’ve gone through change and disruption. So, we’ve been the one consistent part along the way, which is rare.
“When you’ve got clients you work with that long, you get to know them very personally and professionally. It makes for a good, strong working relationship. You do better work because you care,” he added.
A chance to rediscover and reimagine
Jones remained tight-lipped on Pace’s recent wins but noted that over the decades, the agency has worked with more than a thousand projects, many of which are a part of the agency’s history.
Jones shared that they often re-winning old clients and projects they’ve previously worked with. He explained that sometimes such relationships are forced to change.
Jones said: “You find that you recross paths, and so that’s that to us is a win when you end up working with some of the more sexy, reputable brands. They give us a bit of bragging rights.”
Jones added that this is often an opportunity for Pace to “reprove ourselves or reimagine things” for the brand. He noted: “Because it’s not a brand-new client from scratch, often it’s rediscovering an existing relationship that’s got some sort of history to the place.”
Keeping up with business amid the pandemic
Pace did well during the pandemic, according to Jones. But he noted that it was “overwhelmingly well, that it almost got hard to keep up.”
“We’re about getting the job done, right to a high standard, collecting the odd award along the way, but it’s not why we do it.
“You adapt. You are whatever is required on the day. When clients have a downturn, or there’s some economic decline,” he said, referring to COVID and the 2008 GFC.
“At the end of the day, we are a value-for-money based agency, and we’re always a fair price tag and hand on heart, we’re going to do what we said we’re going to do.”
Jones added: “So being reliable and predictable to a degree, but also providing high-quality output and the agency’s diversity. We can go wherever the flavour is and adapt as we need as opposed to just being a digital or niche agency.
“In an economic downturn, we thrive because we know how to cut money and create opportunity,” Jones added.
Outlook and expansion
Sustainability is an area the agency has its eyes set on expanding in as it looks ahead. Jones said: “It’s not just flavour of the month, but the whole sustainability sector, particularly as everyone hits for net zero. There’s a lot of stuff we’re doing in that kind of space.”
“We also do a lot of economic development work and in tourism. We’ve taken upon ourselves to provide a bit of leadership in that space,” Jones added, highlighting a recent state government event led by Pace on zero-emission vehicles.
Jones noted that the event showcased plenty of technological innovation their existing clients are interested in as they adapt and reshape their footprints.
Jones also noted that the agency has been keeping busy with the demand for content as businesses catch up post-pandemic. He said: “We cannot produce enough. At the moment, we think we’re on top of it and getting asked to do more.
“The flavour is shifting from clicks and basic metrics against engagement to the quality of attention we’re generating and what that means,” he said.
The benefits of being part of the IMAA
Pace re-joined as a member of the IMAA earlier this year at the suggestion of the agency’s head of growth, Simon Larcey.
As a member, Jones noted that the agency has enjoyed a range of benefits with the industry body, including industry awareness, staff training and industry representation.
Jones added: “Having a network and shoulders to tap on for various resources or requirements or knowledge is always good.”
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Top image: Ed Jones
