Staniforth directors launch Rule 5 agency following closure

By Matt Cartmell, prweek.com, Thursday, 29 November 2012 10:49AM

Two directors of Staniforth, the Manchester agency that was closed down earlier this month, have launched a new agency named Rule 5.

Rob Brown: launching new agency

Rule 5 has been launched by Rob Brown and Julie Wilson, who were formerly MD and group account director at TBWA-owned Staniforth. They have been joined by two other members of the now defunct agency.

Staniforth was shut down earlier this month by TBWA as the company explained that it wanted to ‘focus on core creative agencies’.

Brown explained that the he had originally planned an MBO at Staniforth last year, but this was rejected by TBWA and so he switched his plans to launching a new agency. He added: 'The new business was on my mind, so we were able to turn it around very quickly once Staniforth was closed.'

The agency will be based in MediaCityUK, the development that is home to BBC North, Salford University and ITV from next March.

Brown added: ‘We chose MediaCityUK because of the rare concentration of media businesses, new and old. There is also a huge volume of creative talent and people who we want to work with to create media content.'

The new agency is launching with clients in the food, sports and media sectors but does not plan to specialise.

Rule 5 will build and manage online communities, monitor and create content alongside building relationships with journalists, editors and producers.

This article was first published on prweek.com