Taxi imports another Brit (one with a musical past)
Mark Tomblin’s trans-Atlantic flight from his native England touched down in Toronto the evening of Jan. 3, giving him only a few days to recover from jet lag before being unveiled as Taxi Toronto‘s new head of planning.
His arrival in Toronto followed a long courtship that first got underway when Taxi principals contacted him via LinkedIn about a year ago, after he’d let it be known through select channels that he was seeking a new career opportunity.
While Canada wasn’t explicitly on his list of career destinations, Tomblin knew he didn’t want to pursue a career in traditional North American advertising centres like New York or Chicago. He was attracted to Taxi both because of its “formidable” creative reputation and its location.
“I think Canada has elements of the United States, but it has strong links to Europe, which means that, for me, it’s going to be an easier transition culturally than heading straight to New York or Chicago,” he said.
Tomblin arrives at Taxi from Leo Burnett Group in London, where he held dual roles as head of planning and planning lead for Kellogg Europe and Kellogg U.K.
He is Taxi’s second major U.K. hire in recent months, following the October appointment of Frazer Jelleyman as its global chief creative officer.
Tomblin will report into Taxi Toronto general manager Nancy Beattie. He will be charged with bringing a global perspective to the agency’s planning division.
Taxi CEO Rob Guenette said that Tomblin is a perfect fit with the agency. “His diverse background working with startups, several leading global agencies and consultancies, not to mention his extracurricular activities in academia and music, are a welcome addition to the culture we thrive on.”
Prior to arriving at Leo Burnett, Tomblin worked with TBG London as director of strategy and as director of planning at Publicis. He has worked with clients including BBC Worldwide, Sony Records, Tussauds Group, American Express and Renault Europe.
The Jelly Connection
Between the aforementioned Jelleyman and Tomblin, there seems to be a bit of a “jelly” theme going on at Taxi these days.
In the early 1980s, Tomblin was a member of a U.K. band called The Jellies that created a would-be dance hit called “Jive Baby on a Saturday Night.” Tomblin and his friend Richard Lewis, now a professor of photography at Salem State University in Massachusetts, created the song in their final year at Cambridge University and pressed 1,000 copies – about 10 of which sold.
“I like to think it was ahead of its time,” joked Tomblin.
When Lewis married an American and emigrated to the U.S. shortly afterwards, he brought some copies of the song to give out to New York radio stations in an attempt to get some airplay. The song eventually found its way into record stores, where it was discovered by crate-diggers who turned it into an underground hit. It was reportedly played seven times in a row by former Sonic Youth frontman Thurston Moore during a DJ set in New York.
Tomblin knew nothing of the song’s renown until he was contacted out-of-the-blue by a DJ from a New Jersey-based internet radio station who was obsessed with the sound embodied by the long-forgotten song.
“Jive Baby…” was subsequently re-issued and went on to receive national airplay in Britain. It’s also available on iTunes, although Tomblin said he’s still “well out of pocket” on his initial £500 investment to make the record.
“You do things when you’re young and you do them to the best of your ability, and it was an episode of my life that I loved and enjoyed but kind of put behind me,” he said. “I’m thrilled that it’s giving a few people pleasure even now.”
The B-side, “Conversation” will be re-released in April, said Tomblin. “But then we’ve ran out of material,” he joked.
