From: Lover in the Wardrobe - a work in progress

William Doveton of “Doveton, Murphy & Cohen, is one of Australia's leaders in the advertising game. (Currently looking at opening offices in Malaysia) Founded a mere 10 years ago, William began the company as a small branding shop, to develop better and bigger clients, so over the years, it began competing with the international shops: J. Walter Thompson, BBDO, etc., The company went public in 2001, yielding massive profits for all the partners concerned. In a word, William Doveton became a very wealthy man in a short amount of time.

Many consider William (Bill) to be an introvert. Then why, as many have asked. has he become one of Australia's biggest and riches Ad Men? Bill will tell you all the selling and big ideas in the agency began with Cohen as Creative Director, and Murphy as Head of Accounts. The three met at a “Branding Conference” in LA. After a long lunch together, and many beers later, decided to join forces. And as the cliche goes, the rest is history.

When anybody looks back over the agency's 10 years, the dark times are usually left unsaid. The “Myth” of Doveton, Murphy & Cohen tells of no setbacks, no flaws, never any moment of troubled times or struggles towards their journey to the top. Certainly, this was a conscious decision made by all the partners. “Our clients must perceive our history as a perfect successful business narrative.” Cohen was assigned as “Myth-maker”, writing the narrative of the firm in terms of press releases, company conferences and the most efficient advertising of all, word of mouth. Word spread that the company was the Icon of the perfect business. And of course, the big accounts followed and in turn, became (luckily) successful, too.

This apparatus of unblemished success for the firm in 2018, all came into focused scrutiny, when the news of William Doveton's marriage, became an international scandal. News of the incident was forecast on CNN world-wide, all major cable stations in the US., France, Australia, and later, Netflix created a documentary and in the end, becoming their most watched doco in years. The infamy of this scandal, at bottom, is not so much that at its core, was a boring love triangle, but in the way it began, moving to strange circumstances, and a situation that nobody could believe at the beginning. And even in present time.

When the agency went public, the Australian Stock Exchange, as predicted by certain pundits in the know, exploded into a buying frenzy. The companies shares opened at a meagre $5.60, by the closing of the market, $26.30. This brought the comfortably rich partners of Doveton, Murphy and Cohen, to the list of Forbes magazine's top hundred riches people on the planet. 2001 was the pinnacle of success for the firm after years of hard won clients and award winning campaigns. And Finally, this was also the year that Bill Doveton met his soon to be bride, Haley Brampton.

Both met at the celebration for the firm's astonishing win in the market after going public. The Melbourne Casino had been chosen for the party. Over a thousand people attended, all the big names of the Australian advertising industry were on full display.

Bill maintained his position at the bar, surrounded by admirers and folks desiring to stand next to powerful success, hoping a small particle of Bill Doveton's “magic ad dust” could some how land on them. It was here that he spotted the beautiful and young Haley Brampton.

Elbowing Murphy beside him, pointing “Do you know who that woman is, Murphy?”

Murphy followed Bills finger, resting his eyes on the pale, dark haired 25 year old.

“I don't know, Bill, but I'll find out.”

In the previous month, one of Packer's ACP publications, named Bill Doveton Melbourne's Most Eligible Bachelors. The 35 year old native city boy, Doveton was notoriously single. Rumours swirled for years that he was gay, but no one could substantiate the allegations. To be fair, Bill was never seen in public with a woman. Over the years, at such and such event, one of the partners would always be seen at his side. Bill's 35^th birthday had just passed; he now had achieved his goal of wealth, and was ready for the “distractions” of a real relationship.

Murphy returned in about 10 minutes from his discovery mission, getting right to the point,” Her name is Haley Brampton. She's in her mid twenties, single and is currently a junior copywriter in a small ad shop in East Richmond.”

“What shop?” Bill asked.

“You won't believe it, but they go by “Star Trek Solutions”, you know, after the TV show.”

“I'll tell you what, Murphy, find out how long she has been with “Star Trek”, check out her work, and if its good enough, hire her. And if it all works out, I want to see her on Monday seated in our foyer.”

Murphy understood Bill's intentions, that is, how determined he could get when he wanted something. He knew Bill Doveton demanded to see Haley Brampton in the foyer of Doveton, Murphy and Cohen on Monday. It was his job to make it happen. Indeed, Murphy knew how to get things done. Aside from being an impeccably efficient and successful Accounts man, he was a problem solver. And Bill knew that when asking Murphy to do a task, if earthly possible, the request would become a reality.

The celebration went long into the next morning. As it was an open bar, never closing, everyone took advantage, and drank until the glimmering hint of dawn lit the windows the next morning. About a third of the crowd decided to remain at the Casino for breakfast. The various hotels within the complex had previously been warned the night before, so they were ready for the onslaught of the drunken and weary ad crowd. Breakfast lasted another three to four hours with a vast majority of the crowd drinking Bloody Mary's along with their eggs. By 11:00-12:00 noon, the last of the celebration could be seen jumping into cabs in front of the Casino. Only a few could be seen on the Black Jack and Roulette tables, gambling into the late afternoon. One gambler, seen through the Casino's surveillance, playing Blackjack from three in the afternoon to 11 that night, losing $150, 000 all up, was finally asked to leave by the management. The Casino knew Michael Murphy, the ad man extraordinaire, all too well.