Hall and Moore land BA bonanza

Simon Hall and Warren Moore have landed on their feet once more after picking up a major chunk of British Airways business by setting up a joint venture with Bartle Bogle Hegarty to run the airline’s loyalty programme.
The joint venture agency – described by BBH as the model of the future – will now serve BA’s direct and loyalty marketing business. BBH has been the incumbent on the creative account for the past nine years. OgilvyOne has handled DM but was told it was out of the running two weeks ago.
Hall and Moore met at Proximity but quit in 2004 to set up the DM division of Clemmow Hornby Inge, Hall Moore CHI, which was eventually rebranded CHI & Partners. They left in 2009 after WPP took a stake in the business, trousering an estimated £5m each and recently set up consultancy Seven Seconds.
The BA win represents a major coup for the duo but, with OgilvyOne having a team of up to 40 people working on the business, former Ogilvy staff could potentially have a claim under TUPE regulations. However, it is understood the team will be directly employed by BBH, rather than Seven Seconds. And it has already been suggested that BBH owner Publicis may eventually buy the unit, leading to another payout for Hall and Moore.
BBH chief executive Ben Fennell said: “Marketers have been wrestling with the issue of a new model for some time – the one stop shop versus connected specialists – and this is an exciting new play for BA and the [ad] industry.”
BA head of marketing Abigail Comber said: “The process was rigorous and we were clear with all the agencies that the solution that delivered us great creativity combined with economies of scale would be the winner. We wanted them to be radical.
“The team didn’t rest on its laurels and really pulled out all the stops to create a bespoke solution, pulling together talent from different pools and demonstrating that they can manage our account across the range of disciplines. Most importantly, it’s a model that will work in the future too.”