Leith breakaway agency will be called Newhaven
The breakaway agency being launched by former Leith Agency directors Jonathan Shinton and Gareth Howells to handle the Tennent’s Lager account is to be named Newhaven.
The five strong team, which includes Shinton and Howells, account director and art director respectively, copywriter Zane Radcliffe, planner Ken Dixon and account manager Jane Strachan, will service the £2m Tennent’s account when its contract expires with The Leith Agency at the end of the year.
The decision by Tennent’s to appoint the team, which currently works on the account at The Leith, will come as a huge disappointment to many Scottish agencies, many of which were gearing up for a pitch later this year.
According to Howells the name Newhaven, an area of Edinburgh just minutes along the coast from Leith, reflects the progress of the team – “a step on from Leith” as well as representing a “new haven” for business.
The team, once it eventually leaves the Leith at the end of the year, will actively be looking to pick up new business. However, Howells insists that they will not be looking to approach any of The Leith Agency’s current clients.
Speaking on behalf of the team Zane Radcliffe said: “In the last few years Scotland has changed. Unfortunately, many of the top agencies haven't been alive to change, in the way they work or the way they operate. Tennent’s has given us a wonderful springboard to do something fresh, both creatively and culturally.”
Meanwhile Leith London has appointed Richard Kelly of McCann-Erickson as planning director to replace Sarah Ryder who left earlier this year.