Doors Open as O’connor launches with backing
Liz O’Connor, joint-founder and former director of The Bridge, has announced the launch of a new agency.
Open Glasgow, which is a joint venture with London-based Open, is to set up shop over the next few weeks.
Open is part of the All About Brands (ABB) group, a PLC which was launched last year. It now has interests in around 11 different companies – which offer a wide range of services from PR through to management consultancy.
The company differs from other groups which have set up in recent times. Rather than the wholesale purchase of agencies AAB takes a stake, leaving the founders with a controlling interest; which it says allows the business to retain the energy of owner-managed agencies on one hand, but giving them the critical mass of a larger group on the other.
Open was founded by Simon Impey, who says he was keen to encourage O’Connor to set up the Glasgow agency, in which his London company has a minority stake.
The NHS numbers amongst Open’s client base and Impey is keen to tap into the social marketing expertise O’Connor honed whilst working on accounts such as the NHS in Scotland while at The Bridge.
O’Connor said, “It is great to be back in the business – working in a group which gives me access to such a wide range of services.”
She added that Open Glasgow is looking for offices in Govan, and is in the process of recruiting an account manager. The new company has not yet reported any account gains.
O’Connor – who was instrumental in the 1996 management buyout of The Bridge, with fellow co-founders Brian Crook and Jonathan d’Aguilar – left the agency she helped launch in September last year.