BIMA chairman Adam Graham resigns from Weapon7 to join Cact.us

His career has seen him build start-ups and run agencies both independently and as part of WPP and Omnicom and is now looking to help drive the growth of a new form of agency.

Graham told The Drum he believes all the agency consolidation that has been occurring in the market,including the buyouts of previously independent agencies, has opened up opportunities for a “new breed” of agency.

“There is a huge opportunity for an agency to take the insights from data that typically reside with a CRM agency to combine that with nimble content production and service design, to address a range of touch points across the consumer journey with highly targeted content through social media and other outputs, and there is massive opportunity for agencies like this to steal a march on the above-the-line agencies, and take the higher ground,” he said.

He added: “I’m looking forward to working with fellow entrepreneurs to add value to a range of different businesses…I’m really looking forward to working with some exciting new hot-shops and help them take on the giants.

“With the mass consolidation we are seeing at the moment the time is right for David to stand up against Goliath.”

He added that agencies Cact.us will be looking to work with are those that "have ambitions well beyond their size".

Graham will leave Weapon7 at the end of the year, and will be replaced by current managing partner Matthew Robinson. He will take up his new role in early January, and his role as chairman at BIMA will remain unchanged.

During his time at Weapon7 Graham was responsible for bringing in significant new business wins including Bacardi UK.

Matthew Robinson, managing partner at Weapon7 said: "It has been a pleasure working with Adam, he has been a leader and friend to the agency, and we wish him all the best in his new role."

In the last 12 months Weapon7 has also won accounts from brands including Headspace and Weve.