M&C Saatchi is at it again: this time sailing under new banner ‘Cultural Power’

M&C Saatchi is finally moving on from its venerable ‘brutal simplicity of thought’ mantra as it approaches its 30th birthday next year. The “new look and strategic focus” is ‘cultural power,’ which is harder to argue with than brutal simplicity which is, in this multimedia age, a touch simplistic.

UK CEO Jo Bacon says: “We’ve always talked about applying brutal, simplistic thought, but actually there’s one thing that that is really good at cultivating, and that is cultural power.

“That’s the diversity of thinking, the diversity of thinkers, and the ability to pull big, strategic thoughts into how to position brands and culture, but then also to bring them to life in whatever solution is right for a client’s business problem.”

M&C, despite more than its share of ups and downs, has shown remarkable longevity and is now a quoted group, valued at £236m despite all the founders, including brutal simplicity author Lord (Maurice) Saatchi leaving. Zaid Al-Qassab from Channel 4 is now the global CEO.

The agency was born in a rush when the Saatchi brothers, Charles and Maurice, were defenestrated from their teetering global empire by shareholders in 1995. The duo were joined by David Kershaw, Bill Muirhead and Jeremy Sinclair with younger generation Moray MacLennan (one-time agency global CEO) joining shortly after. Charles left early to concentrate on his second career as an arts magnate.

At one point it looked as though it might challenge AMV BBDO for biggest British agency; it briefly lured the Sainsbury’s business away from AMV, but it never quite happened. Even so it was quick to see the need for extra, what we used to call below-the-line companies to bolster creative. It also carried on from Saatchi & Saatchi (now in the Publicis fold) as successive Tory governments’ agency of choice.

‘Cultural Power’ might mean everything or nothing: agencies often like to boast they have it, the truth is probably that some are better at discerning where it is, where it’s leading and latching on to the trend. M&C is rather addicted to such slogans: its revamped Sports and Entertainment company describes itself as the “passions agency,” which doesn’t sound very grown-up somehow.

Next year it will also welcome Rob Doubal and Lolly Thomson from McCann as its new creative supremos. At its most positive the Saatchi legacy stands for big, bold creative – Charles’ legacy – so there’s a fair amount riding on this next big change.