Bruce Macrae is leaving his position as head of television at DMB&B
to head the London office of the top Irish production company, Little
Bird.
Macrae will leave the agency next month, once his replacement has been
confirmed. DMB&B has shortlisted a number of external candidates and
expects to fill Macrae’s role over the next few weeks.
Little Bird’s London roster includes Kieron Walsh and Thaddeus
O’Sullivan. Another director, John Moore, who recently left Helen
Langridge Associates, has returned to the London office of Little Bird,
which represented him for a short time last year.
Little Bird set up its London commercials division in June 1996 under
the management of Cressida Lewis, who is now working in the TV
department of Publicis.
Macrae, 36, spent three years as head of television at DMB&B. He has
also worked in the TV departments of J. Walter Thompson, Bates Dorland
and briefly at WCRS.
’Little Bird has a fantastic pedigree but it has been too low key in
London. There is a place for a small company which has talented
directors and which is nice to do business with - somewhere that cares
about the work and is approachable,’ Macrae said.
The Dublin headquarters will be putting more funds into its London
operation and its offices, located off Golden Square, are now being
refurbished, with two floors given over to the commercials division.
Little Bird also runs a successful film company but Macrae has no
immediate ambitions to work in features. ’I am doing commercials; it’s
what I know and like,’ he said. ’I have always enjoyed it when
everything comes together on a production, and moving to work on the
production company side feels like a logical progression, although I
will miss the people at DMB&B.’
Little Bird will retain only a small staff initially, although new
directors are expected to be recruited in the near future. ’There are a
lot of talented freelance production staff,’ Macrae said, ’and I would
prefer to grow from a modest base so that we can build on achievements
rather than on hot air.’
