M&C Saatchi has completed its long search for a CEO in London with the appointment of Giles Hedger, CSO of FCB Inferno.
M&C global boss Moray MacLennan says he “scoured the world” for the right person although Hedger (below) hails from closer to home. At Leo Burnett he worked with M&C CCO Justin Tindall for eight years, latterly as CSO and before that group managing director.
He replaces Tom Bazeley whose Lean Mean Fighting Machine digital agency M&C bought but the deal never gelled.
M&C has tumbled down the UK agency rankings after a number of serious account losses even though its global business seems to be thriving. CRM agency Lida is much more important these days in terms of London revenue.
It’s unwise ever to write off M&C but it suffers in London from a lack of global accounts which provide the foundation for most London network offices.
FCB Inferno will be sorry to lose Hedger, who seemed quite a capture just a year ago. Vicky Holgate, who works on the agency’s flagship Sport England account, moves up to take his role.
M&C will be in the news as it handles the Tories’ General Election campaign. Worsting Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party is not the toughest task in town but it’s high profile all the same. Hedger and Tindall are not cut from the usual M&C cloth which prides itself on its “brutal simplicity of thought,” a rather dog-eared notion these days.
But at least we might see some proper advertising emanating from Golden Square.
