Harold Mitchell, the advertising and media buying executive who has died aged 81, was a man of great passions whose influence on Australia went far beyond the way he reshaped the media industry.
He made his fortune by buying and selling the advertising space that kept television, newspapers, magazines and radio afloat, but his life’s interests ranged from opera and tennis to East Timor and grilled fish and lamb chops.
Harold Mitchell on Yougawalla cattle station in Western Australia in 2013Credit: Rob Homer
Larger than life is a cliche, but apt in “Big Harold’s” case, both literally (he fought obesity and once weighed 165 kilograms before surgery) and figuratively, due to his immense influence across media and later, sport, philanthropy and the arts. Intelligent and self-aware, he acknowledged this in calling his 2009 memoir Living Large: The World Of Harold Mitchell.
Mitchell, who reportedly died after complications from knee surgery, was a fierce competitor who built his business up to dominate the media buying industry through hard work, peerless networking and by trash-talking and under-cutting his rivals.
Traditionally, the trading of ad space was the concern of advertising agencies, but Mitchell struck out on his own, founding what became Australia’s largest media buying agency Mitchell & Partners in 1976. He later sold it for a fortune after gaining as clients some of the biggest corporations, as well as the lucrative federal government media spend.
When Mitchell called you up, the phone line crackled with his intellect, his information, his gossip, his cunning and sometimes his invective.
Harold Mitchell in 1983. Credit: Fairfax Media
He gave journalists choice quotes, media moguls millions of dollars, corporations, middle Australia and rivals his venom, both privately and through the media.
To many others, he gave his time, money, wisdom, charm and friendship.
Acting Melbourne Lord Mayor Nicholas Reece said Mitchell was unique: “Melbourne is in mourning for the loss of Harold Mitchell.
“Australia will not see another like him. He was an absolute one of a kind. A titan of business, a champion of good causes, and friend and adviser to so many.
“He was a great Australian and a very proud Melburnian. There is nowhere his loss will be felt more than in this town where for decades he was almost omnipresent at major events and gatherings.
“To visit his office in South Melbourne was like Willy Wonka meets the advertising industry – there were the leather couches, the artwork, the collectibles, the big desk – it was another world.”
Mitchell, who was awarded a Companion of the Order of Australia, had a way of upending industries and institutions.
Julie Flynn, former chief executive of FreeTV, the commercial television industry body that Mitchell once chaired, recalled how trips to Parliament House in Canberra were no different.
“He was the only person whom when we went down to lobby people, people came and lobbied him. Bang! Policy advisers, politicians, industry people. About anything and everything. His contribution to public life was amazing,” she said.
Mitchell’s life tapestry included his own Harold Mitchell Foundation, chairman of the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, chairman of the National Gallery of Australia, president of the Museums Board of Victoria and board member of Opera Australia and the New York Philharmonic, which he still retained up until his death.
Mitchell personally funded the project that allowed former premier Steve Bracks to be appointed as a pro bono special adviser on governance to the newly independent Timor-Leste.
“Before I had finished my pitch, he said, ‘You can have $500,000’. He backed it in,” Bracks recalled.
“That was Harold, he touched a lot of things. It was of immeasurable benefit for the people of Timor-Leste because it helped to provide a road map of how to govern.”
Mitchell was the son of a saw miller in Stawell and recounted darker tales of his childhood in Living Large, revealing his alcoholic mother abandoned the family when he was 15.
One of the many people he mentored was Ann Peacock, who was the face of Crown casino in Melbourne for many years as its general manager of community and charity when Mitchell was a director.
“He was so inspiring and motivating to all he met ... walking the property and eating in the staff canteen, chatting to employees, with any company I had the privilege of being by his side, his first concern was ‘our people’,” Peacock said.
In 2021, he was one of a number of board directors to resign after damning inquiry findings against Crown Resort’s suitability to hold gaming licences in Sydney.
Despite his rough childhood, he threw himself into life and was richly rewarded by it — until twin crises when he was in his 70s tore at both his family and his reputation.
In 2020, Mitchell was fined $90,000 in a case brought by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission after a judge found a “serious breach” of directors’ duties at Tennis Australia by giving Seven West Media information before it retained the rights to the Australian Open in 2013. The ASIC charges were reputationally devastating although 41 out of 44 charges were dismissed and ASIC failed to have Mitchell disqualified from managing companies.
And in 2013, Bevelly, his wife of 50 years, divorced him, leading to a family rift.
It was a remarkable life and in Mitchell’s estimation a fortunate one. The Black Saturday bushfires caused him a re-evaluation as Mitchell lived in St Andrews where 22 people died.
He told The Age in 2009: “Suddenly you realise life ends too quickly for some, and it will for me, and what did it all mean?”
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