The founders of the Billington Cartmell Group, Ian Billington and Paul Cartmell, are set to leave the business as Hutton Collins Partners complete the purchase of the group after taking an initial stake in the business five years ago.
John Gellett has been names as the new group CEO and will be supported by Rupert Howell and Matthew Hooper, who have taken on non-executive roles as non-executive chairman and non-executive director respectively.
Apart from Ian Billington and Paul Cartmell, other long-standing key staff will remain in their existing roles within the group.
Ian Billington and Paul Cartmell commented in a joint statement issued today: “We are very proud of what we have built: a truly market-leading integrated communications group with real core strengths in advertising, direct, digital, shopper and experiential marketing, that employs over 180 people and generates over £16 million in gross income from an enviable global blue chip client list. We are indebted to our clients who have been truly loyal and supportive over the years”.
“BC has continued to grow over the past five years and has won three consecutive Agency of the Year accolades as well as many other awards including the Marketing Society Grand Prix and IPA Grand Prix. The BC management team we have developed has genuine breadth and depth of talent and we’re confident they will continue to deliver innovative work for our clients. It has been truly inspiring to witness the development of such a talented team of gifted marketing practitioners, and we’re confident they will lead this agency on to even greater success going forwards"
John Gellett added: “The opportunity now is to build on the foundations laid by Ian and Paul and create a market-leading integrated agency group that fully embraces the new media and digital revolution.”