Steve Hooper and Martin Galton, two senior creatives at Bartle
Bogle Hegarty, have quit the agency to open their own shop.
The new company will be a cross between an advertising agency and a
production company and will shoot ads as well as creating them. Hooper,
a former creative director of BBH, and Galton are planning to hire a
producer but say they will not take on account people for their new
venture.
Galton said: ’There seems to be a trend in a lot of big agencies towards
clients wanting to have direct access to the creatives who actually do
the job. We want to catch that wave by starting an agency where they can
talk directly to us. As a creative, it has become very hard to have any
fun in a large agency. We think that by not having any account people we
can be sharp and lean but also have a bit of fun.’
The agency will design and create websites as well as ads. It already
has one client and is in talks with a further three.
Bruce Crouch, the executive creative director of BBH, said: ’I’m really
sorry that they’ve decided to go but they wanted to do their own thing.
We wish them all the very best.’
Hooper was appointed joint creative director of BBH alongside Dennis
Lewis in 1993. He joined the agency as a copywriter in 1985 and was
named as a Campaign Face to Watch in 1990.
Galton joined BBH as an art director in 1985 and was promoted to the
board in 1992. In 1993, he moved to Leagas Delaney to partner its
creative director, Tim Delaney, but returned to the agency in 1996.
Hooper and Galton have, between them, worked across most of BBH’s
best-known accounts. Galton’s credits include the highly acclaimed 1993
Levi’s film ’procession’ and the award-winning ’feel me’ and ’melt
together’ ads for Haagen-Dazs. Hooper’s include the ’odd couple’ ad for
Audi and the ’parting’ spot for Levi’s, in which a GI hands his worn
501s to his girlfriend as a parting gift.
Last month BBH reorganised its creative department, promoting Crouch to
executive creative director. The move was designed to allow John
Hegarty, the chairman and founder of BBH, to spend the majority of his
time at BBH’s fledgling New York office.
