Roy Jeans, the ex-managing director of Initiative, has today launched a new agency to fill a “recognisable gap” in the UK’s media planning and buying landscape.
Communication Partners UK (CPUK), for which Jeans will act as chairman, will aim to help clients navigate their way through what the company describes as a “difficult” marketplace to access and understand.
“Having spoken to many advertisers over the past few months, we have identified a genuine need for an agency that can provide this personal, mature service,” the company said in a statement on Monday.
“In many areas the consumer is moving faster than the advertisers trying to reach them – our challenge is to solve this.”
Jeans is joined by Zenith’s Rachel Hall and White Horse Capital’s Ian Merricks as commercial and investment directors, respectively.
Previously, Jeans ran the $1bn European Unilever media account for Initiative and helped transform ipm, IPG’s outdoor buying agency, into the global company Rapport as CEO. He is currently CEO of Grey Scorpion, which provides “interim management” advice for SMEs.
Based on Borough High Street, CPUK will focus on clients who need senior, hands-on media advice and will help advertisers who are in many cases relatively new to the market.
At launch, CPUK is also partnering with specialist digital agency ASTP, run by Alex Packham, the former social media lead at Sky and ODEON Cinemas.
“We wanted to partner a digitally-focused company with the same ethos as us – with an entrepreneurial approach that sits at the heart of business and media planning,” said Hall.
CPUK starts with Outsourcery and the Malaysian Government as founder advertisers.
