MBO at The Bridge

One story goes that, in 2007 when word first began to circulate that the ‘For Sale’ sign was up at the agency, The Bridge’s MD Brain Crook was so furious that his agency was not included in The Drum’s Fantasy Buy Out League – a table of the most attractive agencies ripe for acquisition – he slammed the door of his office so hard the awards on his reception wall crashed to the floor.

Next followed news that The Mission Group had acquired Edinburgh-based Story as a result of the agency being included in that very feature. Rumours at the time suggested that this scuppered any deal under consideration with The Bridge.

Meanwhile, another well trodden rumour had it that Ten Alps MTD was also interested in acquiring The Bridge – both parties dismissed the speculation, though.

But that’s the problem when it comes to agency takeovers – everybody claims to know the full story, but those who do know the real story often can’t tell it.

Even as negotiations were taking place at The Bridge between its owners and the MBO team, a new wave of speculation has been rife about the value of the deal, the structure of the deal and even the politics behind it.

There’s nothing quite like an agency sale to get the natives restless.

But the confidence of the new four-strong management team, which has now officially taken over the reigns of the agency, is clear when The Drum arrives at the agency.

Brian Crook and Jonathan d’Aguilar, his creative director at The Bridge for over a decade, have now departed with the deal finally completed.

Now in full control of their own destinies – and that of the agency’s 19 staff – are Alan Clarke and David Watson, now become managing partners; Margaret Byrnes takes on the role of director, with Frank Stubbs becoming creative director.

When The Drum meets them, the four make it clear from the outset of the discussion that, with regards to the future of the agency, nothing has changed. Despite the departure of two of Scotland’s best known advertising men things will continue as normal inside the Jacobean Building.

“To say that there are no plans would be to overstate things. I don’t want us to come across as a pompous bunch of arseholes who are making big claims that we’re going to change the world and that we’re going to change the agency. That would give the wrong impression,” responds Clarke when asked about any radical plans they may have in place.

His colleagues agree. With 50 years of experience from working at the agency between them, they are more than up to the challenge of continuing to steer the agency forward, they claim, while taking on the extra responsibilities they now have as owners of the company.

“There is no doubt that we will gradually stamp our own personalities onto the agency, but we will continue to do what we feel has worked very successfully at the agency,” continues Watson. “We’ve done very well in recent years and it’s about keeping that going. We’ve had some positive response from our clients. In fact, there are probably half a dozen clients who haven’t actually met Brian or Jonathan, as over the last two or three years they’ve not being doing the day-to-day work. In time, there will be changes, there’s no doubt about that, but we’re not going to change for the sake of change.”

Committed

Byrnes picks up Watson’s thread: “We’re committed to the same values which put us in good stead for the future. We played a big part in building the ethos of the business along with Brian and Jonathan, and that will continue. We were here when the last MBO took place and we have been very much a part of the businesses growth over the years.”

Indeed since it was founded in1986, the agency has operated under a number of guises. It began life as Stewart and Mitchell Associates before re-branding to become Rex Stewart. This then became The Bridge/Alliance, before the deal in 1996 that saw Crook, d’Aguilar and Liz O’Connor (who, less than amicably, left the agency in 2006 following a dispute) buy out the The Bridge.

Of the current deal itself, it is understood to have been personally financed by the four and that Byrnes has taken 19% of a stake while the others hold 27%. They have also dismissed any notion that it includes any future payments to the three previous stakeholders, Crook, d’Aguilar and Liz O’Connor, and say that it was worth “considerably more” than the previously reported value of £200,000.

As to when the protagonists started to piece together the deal, Watson explains that it has been an ongoing process for many years, but only really last year did the four know that it was going to be completed now.

During their time in running The Bridge, both Crook and d’Aguilar became familiar and popular faces within the industry, which greatly aided the reputation and profile of the agency. With the two stepping away the new management team may have to build their own profiles in order to gain that same recognition, but the four concur that they are more concerned with the handling of their client’s accounts and getting on with the work in hand than growing their own reputations.

Clarke certainly believes that there is no urgent need to launch a PR offensive to boost the agency’s profile: “Obviously among our client group we have an appropriate profile and, in terms of new business, there aren’t many people that ask ‘who’s The Bridge?’ We don’t have a problem, but it’s up to some people to now acknowledge that there has been a change in the guard here.

“If we were setting out with a new name over the door then we’d think ‘bloody hell, we need to build some profile on that.’ It’s not something we need to worry about with The Bridge.”

In taking on the creative director’s mantle from d’Aguilar, Stubbs says: “I’ve been running the creative department and getting involved with the work produced, while Jonathan was the one sitting on D&AD and other creative panels. We will look to get increasingly involved now – that’s one of the challenges for us in taking on these new roles, while actively running all of the accounts and doing the creative work.”

In terms of adding to the 19 members of staff already employed at the agency the foursome have no plans to hire at the moment, no doubt reflecting a prudent and cautious outlook in these times of uncertainty.

Public sector

Of the current clients at the agency, it is noticeable that many are in the public sector, not least The Bridge’s retained place on the Scottish Government roster as well as its place on the Northern Irish Government’s roster too.

The Bridge certainly has a great deal of experience in this sector – having created a number of iconic adverts, most notably for HEBS [Health Education Board Scotland] – but has also serviced accounts with ScottishPower and Britannia Asset Management in the past.

Currently it is working with the likes of Rock Radio across the UK, as well as Whyte & Mackay, Belhaven and Bowmore, also showing a substantial private sector experience.

Another interesting element of the MBO is the future of The Bridge’s design arm Freight. It is understood that members of that business are also looking to complete an MBO, but the four are reluctant to discuss what is happening and will not disclose details of that deal, other than to confirm that a buy out will also take place in the near future.

With 50 years of working at The Bridge between them, perhaps ‘A New Beginning’ is the wrong term of phrase to use – particularly as, apart from now having their names over the door, little has changed.

That said, with the shape of the Scottish, and indeed the UK, advertising industry continuing to shift, it is inevitable that The Bridge will have to change too under the new watch.