BBC Creative’s creative directors, Tim Jones and James Cross, are to leave the corporation to set up their own agency after five years at BBC Creative’s Salford HQ.
Jones and Cross have confirmed the news on their social media accounts, although the burning question they haven’t yet answered, first raised by voiceover artist Tom Fenwick Smith on Twitter, is whether the pair will be continuing their creative adventures in MediaCityUK.
The pair both hail from the Midlands, while their careers have brought them to the BBC’s Manchester home via London, Derby, Leicester, Birmingham, Berlin and Prague before setting up in Salford.
Jones and Cross have worked as a team, commonly referred to as Tim and James, for around 12 years. They refer to themselves on their own website as “a modern day Richie and Fonzie,” although they don’t specify who is who, and further note their habit of “enhancing the reputation of many of our superiors along the way.”
The biog on their shared website adds: “We’ve worked with great people and terrible people and learnt just as much from both. We’ve made great work and terrible work and learnt just as much from both. We believe in the power of simplicity. We like zigging when everyone else are zagging. We now know that greatness requires collaboration. And that winning the client’s trust is the best way to get to something special.”
