Lowe drops Brompton in Interfocus takeover deal

The Lowe Group is dropping the name of its sales promotion arm, The Brompton Agency, after buying a majority stake in Interfocus, the high-profile through-the-line agency.

The newly merged agency will retain the Interfocus name. Interfocus founders Sandy Scott and Matthew Hooper will keep their positions as chairman and managing director.

The agency is to relocate to The Lowe Group headquarters, which also houses Lowe Howard-Spink and Lowe Direct.

Lowe Group chairman Frank Lowe told Marketing Week that the group’s expansion into direct marketing through Lowe Direct and the latest move with Interfocus is a response to client needs at LH-S.

He says four or five LH-S clients are interested in using the group’s below-the-line agencies. “With Lowe Direct and now Interfocus, we can offer them the best in the market,” he says.

“We aim to develop a single approach. When we develop a campaign such as ‘Every little helps’ for Tesco we need to offer executions in various disciplines to see it through.”

Last November, Tesco chairman Sir Ian MacLaurin said that Tesco would shift much of its 30m above-the-line support below the line. Tesco came off TV for the first time last Christmas, concentrating much of its promotional effort on the Clubcard scheme, launched through Evans Hunt Scott last February.

Lowe also says that Interfocus will attract business which is independent of the Lowe Group.

The combined billings of the new agency is estimated at 50m and includes Imperial Tobacco, Lloyds Bank, Carlton, BAA, BP Oil and Whitbread.

The Brompton Agency’s managing director, John Coleman, is “considering his future options”,, says an agency spokeswoman.

No redundancies are expected, and there is no anticipated loss of business due to client conflict.