Ex-PWLC MD returns to launch new ad agency
Former PWLC managing director Neil Lockwood has launched a new advertising agency with business partner and strategy consultant Julia Mulligan.
Although the business has kept a low-profile since its launch, The Drum can reveal that the pair has launched a four-strong advertising agency operating out of Leeds’ Round Foundary Media Centre.
The new business, Sixteen Hands - a reference to the average height of a thoroughbred horse - has already secured contracts with the likes of Land Securities, Johnston Press and Ballet Lingerie.
Mulligan told The Drum the agency had emerged out of a “group of like-minded individuals, all of whom have worked together in the past”.
She also confirmed that the agency has been working with some of PWLC’s former clients, although details have not yet been revealed.
Lockwood has assumed the role of managing director, while Mulligan will be responsible for the Sixteen Hands’ strategy and planning offering.
Mulligan said: “We’re not about egos, we’re a straight down the line agency. Our ambition is to become an iconic northern agency. We’re proud to be from the north and there’s lots of business up here that all too often goes to London. Eventually, we want to be the leading northern agency.”
PWLC closed its doors earlier this year after a succession of account losses, including DFS and Fox’s Biscuits. Its last remaining clients included Blackpool Marketing Consortium, Johnston Paint and Hotel Focus.
News that Lockwood has returned to the industry with ex-PWLC clients is likely to alert the co-founder of his former employers, John Longworth, who is understood to be on the verge of launching his own operation.