A court case between 180 and Wieden & Kennedy was resolved this
week with ’substantial damages’ being awarded to Alex Melvin and Chris
Mendola who, together with Larry Frey, founded 180 as a breakaway from
W&K in October.
Mendola and Melvin were fired by W&K in August after the agency accused
them of working on a new-business pitch for Adidas, the main rival of
W&K’s biggest client, Nike, while they were still employed by W&K.
As a result of the hearing, the 180 duo were found to be ’not at fault,’
although details of the court case, heard in Amsterdam, are unclear.
Mendola was an account director on Nike at W&K in Amsterdam and Melvin
was a planning director.
180 is now working alongside Leagas Delaney on the Adidas roster and is
expected to undertake about 20 per cent of the global sports giant’s
advertising work over the coming year, although the particular projects
assigned to each agency have yet to be announced.
The UK-born Melvin started work in 1983 at Allen Brady and Marsh.
Mendola and Frey, who are both American, began their careers at
Chiat/Day and Ayer in 1989 and 1981 respectively.
