Chime Communications is to re-name all its Lowe Bell subsidiaries
as Bell Pottinger from next month. The change is in response to demands
from Sir Tim Bell’s former business partner, Frank Lowe, that his name
be dropped.
Lowe Bell Good Relations, for example, will be renamed Bell Pottinger
Good Relations.
The new name acknowledges Piers Pottinger, who is deputy chairman of
Chime Communications, the Lowe Bell holding company, and joint chief
executive of Lowe Bell Communications.
Pottinger and Bell bought Lowe Bell from ad agency Lowe Howard-Spink in
1989. Bell and Frank Lowe, now chairman and chief executive of Lowe
Group, established the first Lowe Bell company in 1985 under the
auspices of Lowe Howard-Spink.
Just before Christmas last year Lowe Group, the parent company of Lowe
Howard Spink, issued a writ demanding the Lowe name be dropped.
The company held a 20 per cent stake in Lowe Bell at the time of the
buy-out, but that stake has now dwindled to around three per cent.
Lowe originally requested that his name be dropped in August of last
year. The request predates Chime’s acquisition of advertising agency
HHCL.
The acquisition marked Chime’s first venture into advertising, and was
cited as a reason for Lowe’s request for the return of his name.
