One of the leading figures in the UK advertising industry over the last 30 years has been appointed as non-executive chairman of the independent agency Boys and Girls.
Robert Senior joins the eight-year old agency following its recent rebrand and a period of significant growth for the business. Senior was one of the co-founders of Fallon London in 1998 which then went on to become of the most admired and successful agencies in the UK. In 2006 it was acquired by Publicis Groupe and Senior went to work for another Publicis agency – Saatchi & Saatchi- initially as CEO and later as its worldwide chief executive.
According to Patrick Meade, partner and managing director of Boys and Girls: “Robert brings something very unique to our business. He has been on our journey. A founder at Fallon London, he has grown an agency into a global powerhouse before leading one of the world’s most famous agency networks – Saatchi & Saatchi. Robert’s views on creativity and the power of creative ideas are aligned with ours. He shares our passion for collaboration while his enthusiasm for the craft was very evident and contagious. Having his singular insights and perspective on our agency will be invaluable as Boys and Girls grows and develops to another level of success both in Ireland and internationally.”
“I’m delighted to be joining the Boys and Girls board as I was instantly drawn to their passion, creativity and independent spirit,” adds Robert Senior.
The appointment of Senior follows a recent rebrand according to Meade.
“Our first identity was developed in 2009 and we felt that it was time for a change to represent who we are as a business nine years later. The brief to our in-house design talent was simple. Namely to look at our current identity from a perspective of ‘collaboration’. Why? Because having reviewed all our work and looking at what has been the key to our success we believe that collaboration with colleagues, clients and with world class creative partners has been the key ingredient.
“Collaboration already sits at the heart of our identity. It’s the ‘and’ in Boys and Girls. This new work looks to re-present Boys and Girls through that perspective and deploys an evolved, new-look logo, eye-catching graphics, immersive content, compelling client brand films and an enthralling colourscape with graduations in the blue to pink Boys and Girls colour spectrum,” he says.
The agency has also announced that following an extensive closed agency pitch process, it has retained the creative account for Three Mobile for another three years.
The extended contract will increase the scope of the agency’s remit and will – for the first time – include Three’s digital and content creation work.
“We’re absolutely delighted to have agreed a three-year extension to our contract with Three. The body of work we’ve created since we first began working together is testament to a really strong client agency relationship. Our collective and fervent belief lies in the power and importance of creativity to deliver great commercial results. Three wants – and demand -great work and we’re pleased to now have an even wider multi-annual brief to deliver it for them,” says Pat Stephenson.
The agency initially won the account back in January 2013 after a competitive pitch. Since that time, it has successfully helped integrate the O2 brand into Three and developed its new brand positioning which manifested in the launch of the Make It Count campaign last year.
According to Elaine Carey, Chief Commercial Officer, Three: “Our brand is all about facilitating a better connected life for our customers through our market leading plans, incredible sponsorships, as well as our roll-out of Ireland’s biggest and most advanced 4G network. For the next three years we’re looking forward to working with Boys & Girls to continue to bring all of this to life by creating more market leading advertising and brand experiences. We believe that this work will deliver new levels of active engagement with our customers and help drive our growth plans, propelling the Three brand upwards.”
