Poole leaves TMS to found rival

by James Quilter Promotions & Incentives 06-May-08, 10:30

LONDON - David Poole, managing director of The Marketing Store's Birmingham office, has left to set up his own shop, taking a number of accounts with him.

Poole has founded a new agency in Birmingham called Life Agency and will launch around a number of former TMS clients including Chicago Town Pizza.

As a result of the move, TMS's Birmingham arm will be rebranded under its design offshoot, Boxer. TMS's London office will be the sole UK agency to retain the name.

TMS's office in Leeds, closed shortly after it lost its Asda account to Leeds-based promotional agency Savvy Marketing.

A source close to TMS said the split with Poole was "entirely amicable". He said the accounts that left with Poole conflicted with TMS's flagship McDonald's account. At the time of the breakaway, TMS was repitching for the account.

Poole's departure follows that of global CEO David Bender, who left TMS in October last year (as pandionline.com revealed). He was replaced by TMS's global president of agency services, John Hilbrich.

A Life spokeswoman confirmed that the agency was working on Chicago Town but declined to comment further.