Prophesy and Direction lost in TMW Unlimited merger

Unlimited Group is undergoing yet another rationalisation of agency brands which will see Prophecy Unlimited and Direction Group Unlimited axed and folded into TMW Unlimited.

Prophecy was only formed in May 2017 from the merger of The Real Adventure and EMO, with a client list featuring Toyota, Danone, Costa and BMW.

However, in May last year a group of former senior executives of both agencies, including Real Adventure creative chief Ian Bates, joint MD Beth Pope and strategy partner Nick Barthram launched their own agency, Firehaus. They were joined by former EMO boss Nick Davies and ex-Prophecy Unlimited associate creative director Tim Lines, who work as part of the Firehaus Crew of associates.

Meanwhile, the Direction Group was acquired last April. The B2B agency, which has a headcount of about 60, specialises in brand creative, content, conversion and consulting for clients including Microsoft, Fujitsu and Tata Communications.

Unlimited, which insists there will be no job losses from the move, says the merger has been driven by the group’s desire to offer integrated business-to-consumer and business-to-business services for clients.

Unlimited chief executive Tim Hassett, who was appointed last year, said: “In bringing together three of our core specialist agencies, we are strengthening our offering for clients and have built a world-class team made up of diverse and dynamic talent. This is a natural step in the evolution of Unlimited and one that is underpinned by our commitment to provide clients with truly integrated solutions.”

In late 2017, Unlimited merged four insight businesses under the Walnut Unlimited brand, then pooled all agencies into the seven disciplines of health, customer engagement, brand, digital transformation, B2B & technology, CRM & Acquisition and Insight & Analytics.

In the past 18 months, Unlimited has also acquired First Base and Model Citizens; both have since been rebranded.