So new it has no name, a startup shop founded by ex-WCRS duo Charles Vallance and Rooney Carruthers has been awarded the $214 million (£150m) pan-European account of rebranded mobile mammoth MmO2 – BT Cellnet prior to its demerger from British Telecommunications last year.
Vallance, former executive strategy director at WCRS, is graphically described on WCRS’ website as “shooting up the career ladder like a bespectacled rat up a drainpipe”. He and and Carruthers, a creative refugee from FCB San Francisco, were appointed without a formal pitch by MmO2's vice-president of global marketing, Will Harris. He worked with the pair when all three trod the mill at London agency WCRS and was apparently impressed with their work on the global launch of the Orange brand.
It is not yet known how the new appointment will impact on incumbent agency Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, also appointed without a pitch last year by Harris. Nor is it revealed whether the startup is funded by WCRS and will harness its resources.
Either way, they will not be breaking out the champagne at AMV.
News source: BrandRepublic (UK)
