NEWS: Saville leaves GGT to launch C5 shop

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.

This article was first published on Campaign