Lace hired to double Admedia business

by Jennifer Whitehead Media Week 24-Jun-08, 08:00

LONDON - Garry Lace, the colourful former chief executive of ad agencies Grey London and Lowe London, is joining washroom advertising specialist Admedia as managing director.

Lace, who is taking an undisclosed equity stake in the business, has been given the task, by Admedia's joint chief executives Philip Vecht and Jonathan Naggar, of doubling the size of the business over the next three years.

This may be achieved through a mix of organic growth, expansion beyond its core operations of washroom media and motorway service six-sheets in areas such as experiential and mobile and through mergers and acquisitions.

Lace's appointment follows that of Marc Mendoza, managing partner of Havas-owned Media Planning Group, last month, as a non-executive director. Ex-Clear Channel Billboards managing director Jonathan Lewis joined as chairman at the start of 2008, replacing Stevie Spring who resigned on becoming chief executive of Future Publishing.

The 40-year-old Lace, who joins Admedia on 1 July, has been at the centre of some of the ad industry's most intriguing stories, but has kept a relatively low profile over the past two years as non-executive chairman of promotions agency, Intelligent Marketing, and adviser to private equity firm Midocean.

He left Lowe London, where he was chief executive, in 2006 after being suspended amid allegations that he had held clandestine meetings with Sir Frank Lowe, who had left the agency to found a rival, Red Brick Road.

Before that, he was the subject of an anonymous hoax e-mail sent to a number of journalists and Grey staff, claiming he was planning to quit the company and set up a loyalty scheme to rival that of Grey client, Air Miles.

Lace said he had missed the buzz of running a company and that he was drawn to the opportunities in outdoor.