Scotland’s 1576 in DM joint venture start-up

The Edinburgh-based advertising agency 1576 has set up a direct marketing arm called Metis.

Simon Ward, the former marketing director of ScottishPower and Royal Bank of Scotland joint venture Work24, has been hired as managing partner of Metis.

Work24, now defunct, was an Internet business venture set up by the companies to help small and medium-sized business launch in cyberspace.

Alan Nicholls, who has a background in Scottish direct marketing agencies, joins Metis as creative partner, while Tom McBride, previously at Work24 and British Gas, will be data planning partner. The trio will own the company jointly with 1576.

Metis, which plans to expand its team of five, offers a full range of below-the-line marketing including customer relationship management (CRM), direct marketing, e-mail marketing and sales promotion.

It has already snapped up a number of clients, including the Edinburgh Festival, Direct Holidays, Scottish Mutual and The Scotsman.

Mark Gorman, managing partner of 1576, says: “We have held back from launching a separate below-the-line business for some time to make sure we get it right from the start.

“I think the combination of skills across strategy, creative and data is a unique start-up offering to Scotland and will allow us to build on our success so far in this area.”