MullenLowe executive partner (and MAA columnist) Laurence Green is exiting the agency four years after 101, the agency he founded with Phil Rumbol and Mark Ellwood, was bought by Interpublic and incorporated into MullenLowe.
Rumbol left to become CEO of Bahlsen Biscuits (which remains a MullenLowe client) while Ellwood joined Leo Burnett last year.
Green says: “The plan at acquisition was to get MullenLowe back to something approaching its best. After a titanic shift from my colleagues on Covid-19 last year, our triumph as IPA Effectiveness Network of the Year, wins like Nutella and work like Art Fund ‘Unbooked’, the agency is now in really good shape.
“I’m proud to have flown the flag for Lowe either side of my 20-year indie career, and I wish it all the best as it turns 40. Most agencies don’t make it that far, and I’m pleased to have played my part.”
Green worked as a planner at Lowe Howard-Spink and then helped to found Fallon London which enjoyed some years of success with standout campaigns including Cadbury’s ‘Gorilla’ for Rumbol, who was then the client.
101 never took off in the same way despite good work. It had instances of bad luck including Costa Coffee coming and then going when it decided it needed an international agency.
Green and his colleagues played an important part in steadying MullenLowe which had seen a number of senior management changes after plunging a little too enthusiastically into digital.
