Dare unveils new management team following merger with MCBD

The senior team is Helen Calcraft, the MCBD founder, as executive chairman; John Owen, Dare’s joint managing partner as deputy chairman; Lee Leggett, the joint managing partner of Dare, as chief executive officer; and Andy Nairn, the executive planning director at MCBD as chief strategy officer.

Flo Heiss, the Dare creative partner, and Danny Brooke-Taylor, MCBD’s executive creative director, will become executive creative directors of the operation. John Bartle will be non-executive director.

The new agency will include an integrated creative department comprising 17 creative teams, 22 designers and 18 creative technologists.

The merger of MCBD and Dare is part of a wider restructure and rebranding of the Cossette Group in Europe as EdC. Cossette globally will rebrand as Vision 7 International and executive vice president Gregor Angus will relocate from Canada to become president of EdC Europe, while Mark Collier, the Dare founder, will become the EdC group chairman.

The Dare model will be rolled out internationally, with John Owen overseeing the expansion. Dare’s New York office will be the subject of investment and expansion and, in Vancouver, a new agency called Dare will be formed out of the merger of Cossette’s Fjord digital shop with the Cossette West ad agency.

Dare in London will operate in a new building in Cavendish Street, which will be shared by sister agencies Elvis, the branding shop Identica, and PR agency Band & Brown Group.

Dare will turn its social media unit into a "brand tactics" division which will engage in long-term brand management across all channels. The agency has also developed an approach it terms "truth and dare" to encourage clients to confront the truths about their brand as consumers see them.

This article was first published on campaignlive.co.uk