Sir Frank's partners keep him waiting

John Tylee, Campaign, Thursday, 08 December 2005, 8:30am,

LONDON - Sir Frank Lowe's potential partners were this week keeping him waiting to find out if they would join his start-up, which has plundered Lowe's £50m Tesco account.

Paul Hammersley, the DDB London chief executive, and David Hackworthy, his chief strategic officer, have been slated to take leading roles in the new shop with Sir Frank and the former Lowe London chairman Paul Weinberger. But as Campaign went to press neither man (both at a DDB meeting in the US), had quit.

Nor had Mark Cadman, the JWT managing director. He is said to be weighing up the prospect of promotion at JWT against an equity stake in the start-up. Ed Morris, Lowe's executive creative director, has also been approached.

Meanwhile, it is believed Sir Martin Sorrell, WPP's chief executive, has had talks about his possible involvement, but nothing has been agreed.

Lowe's 20-strong Tesco account team is expected to be offered jobs by Sir Frank.

Besides Tesco, the agency could launch with business from Heineken and Olympus.

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This article was first published on Campaign