One of the world's legendary advertising figures, Sir Frank Lowe, is emerging from retirement to launch a new agency.
The founder of Lowe Worldwide - part of the Interpublic stable - is joined in the new venture by Paul Weinberger, who resigned last week as chairman of Lowe's London office.
Weinberger is expected to bring the £45 million ($77m; €66m) Tesco account to the startup. However, Britain's number one supermarket chain will concede only that "we are in discussion with Lowe about the reported changes".
The loss of the business would be a severe blow to the shop's London office, where it accounts for some 10% of revenues. Tesco's departure would come in the wake of other major losses, including Unilever's Omo detergent brand and HSBC bank.
Sir Frank (65), who retired in 2003, made his move three months after the ending of restrictive covenants imposed on him by IPG. These prevented him poaching clients or staff.
Data sourced from Adweek (USA); additional content by WARC staff
