RLA Group tempts DFGW founder back to ad industry

DFGW founder Michael Finn is returning to the advertising industry as a non-executive director of RLA Group. The agency, whose clients include Volkswagen and Goodyear Dunlop, has also appointed former Guinness marketing chief Julian Spooner as chairman.

DFGW founder Michael Finn (pictured) is returning to the advertising industry as a non-executive director of RLA Group. The agency, whose clients include Volkswagen and Goodyear Dunlop, has also appointed former Guinness marketing chief Julian Spooner as chairman.

Finn founded Duckworth Finn Grubb Waters in 1989 but left in February last year to “look for a new challenge”. The agency was sold to Freud Communications in April (MW April 5). The RLA position is his first non-executive director role.

Spooner spent five year’s with Diageo as Guinness GB marketing and strategy director and director of operations for Guinness Africa. He is also a former chief executive of Media Audits and a former marketing director of the National Dairy Council.

RLA Group was set up in 1984 and has five offices in the South of England and Northern Ireland. The agency is on the COI roster and counts Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles as one of its biggest clients.

Finn says: “I am interested in helping companies grow. I like to see people develop their talents and help provide the framework to do that. RLA is a very interesting agency and fills a potentially very lucrative gap in the market. I am looking forward to helping them realise their potential.”

RLA has just introduced a new strapline on its website – “RLA starts where other agencies stop” – to emphasise its commitment to providing a full service for its clients.