Robert Saville, the joint creative director of GGT, is leaving to set up
a creative agency that will have Channel 5 as its first client.
The agency, which has yet to be given a name, is already open for
business. Saville has even made his first hiring, bringing in the Bartle
Bogle Hegarty board account director, Stef Calcraft, as a partner. A
number of other appointments are in the pipeline.
Saville, who has been with GGT for six years, decided to launch his own
agency after being invited to work on Channel 5’s ad account alongside
the Dutch creative outfit, KesselsKramer.
‘I was not actively seeking out from GGT,’ Saville said, ‘but when an
offer to work on a project like Channel 5 comes along, it’s not
something you can turn down.’
Channel 5 originally approached GGT to pitch for its advertising account
earlier this year, but the agency’s Blockbuster UK client is understood
to have seen Channel 5’s commitment to quality movies as a potential
conflict.
However, Saville kept in contact with Channel 5’s marketing director,
David Brook, and became involved in KesselsKramer’s pitch for the
channel’s account. The two agencies will work together on the business,
involving themselves in both on and off-screen communications.
Brook said that he was aiming to ‘get the very best people, from a range
of disciplines, working on our business. It’s an endorsement of our
proposition that we have been able to attract such top talent.’
Saville said his new agency would not be structured along traditional
lines. ‘Old demarcations that divide people in-to account men or
creatives are too restricting. We will be offering strategic insights
not bound by traditional agency confines,’ he explained.
Saville will continue working for GGT on a consultancy basis for clients
with which he already has a close working relationship, such as Holsten
Pils and John Smith’s.
However, his departure will bring to an end a five-year partnership with
Jay Pond-Jones, who is now promoted to the post of executive creative
director.
Calcraft leaves BBH after three years with the agency, where he
currently runs a portfolio of clients including NatWest and Heineken.
