Ex-Saatchi bosses team up to create new agency

Former Saatchi & Saatchi executives Ron Leagas and Chris Arnold are merging their respective agencies Edge Ideas and Feel to form a new operation called Blac.

Blac, named after the four founding partners Johnny Barradale, Leagas, Arnold and Neil Campbell, will be positioned as an integrated agency.

Leagas, a former Saatchi & Saatchi managing director, set up Edge Ideas five years ago; the agency’s client list includes Swan Hellenic and Travelsphere. Leagas will be chairman of Blac, and Edge Ideas colleagues Campbell and Barradale will be joint managing directors, handling business development and client service respectively.

Arnold, a former integrated creative director at Saatchi & Saatchi, set up Feel in July 2002 and the agency has developed work for clients such as Alcohol Concern and Conservative Future. He takes the position of executive creative director.

The new agency has 50 staff and claims to have a combined business worth about &£32m.

Leagas says the new agency will combine the “strategic strengths of Edge Ideas with the creative power of Feel”. He adds that the business will initially operate from two sites: client management will be based in Covent Garden, London and the creative side in Islington, but the agency intends to triple in size eventually.