Former BBC Creative Directors Tim Jones and James Cross have announced the identity of the mystery third party who will be joining them at their new agency Meanwhile.
Alastair Marchant, the former MD of Chapter, will be joining them at their highly anticipated start-up creative agency, which is now open for business.
Meanwhile is “a company for people who’d rather set agendas than follow them”, and has offices in MediaCityUK. The business also reunites the trio, who first met as juniors over 15 years ago, and will announce its founding clients, including a Christmas campaign for a high street retailer, in the coming weeks.
Marchant, who will be CEO, said the name of the company very much reflects who they are and their approach: “We wanted a name that had genuine meaning about what we are offering in both our unique approach to creative work, and how we’ve designed the company to remove every conceivable barrier between clients, us and what matters most – creativity that adds value to businesses.
“To do this, we’ll use proprietary technology, collaborative ways of working, and a different commercial model to ensure our client’s goals are totally aligned with ours. Meanwhile is a better way to better work, it’s that simple.”
Cross and Jones, who won a BAFTA for their Tokyo Olympics campaign and led the recent rebrand of BBC One, will be joint-chief creative officers.
Jones explained the duo’s approach, which he believes will continue to bring success: “We’ve always approached client challenges looking for the exceptions to the rules – the ‘what ifs’ and ‘yeah, buts’. And we will continue that ethos because we firmly believe it’s how we can make a difference culturally and commercially.”
Cross added: “We’re not just a ‘Manchester agency’, we’re an independent creative company that wants to help brands at the highest level in the UK and internationally, that just happens to be proudly based in the North West. It’s an important difference, it gives us a different perspective, and clients a genuine alternative to Shoreditch and Soho. We want to work with brands that want to ‘shift the needle’, and I believe we’re primed for just that.”
The trio have also roped Manchester music legend Bez in to hype their launch. Bez is perhaps best-known for filling in at late notice to celebrate the seventh birthday of legendary club night Fuse, at Manchester’s sadly missed Roadhouse, in 2006 when Keith Tenniswood, aka Radioactive Man, was taken ill. He is also known for performing with the Happy Mondays.
Cross explains: “Hiring Manchester’s ultimate hype-man felt a very Meanwhile thing to do, we just wanted to create the most memorable founders photo ever.”
