Creatives Commit To IPO Raise Funds For Cannes

Creatives Commit To IPO In Effort To
Raise Funds For Cannes

Auckland, NZ: Friday, 21 May, 2010: They’re not selling the prospect of making millions from scented candles but the young, aspiring advertising creative team of Iain Nealie and Tara McKenty (known as ‘Plankton’) are quietly confident their forthcoming initial public offering, which launched today, will connect with Kiwis.

In a contemporary take on commercial fundraising efforts, the creative team is attempting to raise enough money to get them to this year’s Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival in France (21-26 June), the world's only truly global meeting place for professionals in the communications industry.
Andy Blood, Group Creative Director at the TBWA\ Group of Companies, who hired and mentors Plankton, says they should be applauded for their initiative and the fresh thinking they’ve demonstrated to promote themselves.

“They’re both bloody clever and have already done some great work. Geoff Ross started out in advertising and seems to have done pretty well for himself lately, given the recent Ecoya IPO offer closed fully subscribed just above the target level at $10.1 million. Tara and Iain, on the other hand, will be happy enough with some money for two plane tickets to Nice and a little pocket money while they’re there. I reckon they deserve a punt,” he says.

Nealie and Mckenty are issuing 1000 shares of ‘preferred’ stock in ‘Plankton’ the moniker they operate under, and interested parties can purchase these via a purpose built web site and investment platform they’ve designed: www.planktonIPO.com
“We called ourselves Plankton because we’re surface dwellers: we’ve started small but we have big ambitions. But we’re not selling out: we’re simply selling shares in us, who we are, what we stand for and what we want to achieve in the industry.

So we’ve taken the term ‘futures trading’ literally, allowing people who are interested and supportive to invest in our future,” says Iain.
“Getting to Cannes is a pilgrimage of biblical proportions and as two microscopic creatives swimming in a big advertising industry ocean we need as much help as we can to get there. A quirky and creative take on an IPO seemed like the best bet,” he adds.

ENDS

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