Ideas Group regroups as The Foundry Heather Ferguson
The Ideas Group has been renamed The Foundry and is set to expand beyond retail following its buyout by two employees for an undisclosed sum.
Former The Ideas Group employees, creative director Ian Brown and national group account director Simon Burrett, have taken control of the 24 year-old agency after four months of negotiations.
Over the past 12 months Burrett has helped secure around $20m in new business for the agency, including Capt’n Snooze and The Chocolate Box.
“We have a great story to tell about 23 years of history combined with fresh new blood and new thinking, and this story is certainly going over well with clients and new business prospects alike” he told B&T.
Brown, who is now national creative directive as well as a managing partner, previously worked as group CD on Tooheys and Telstra at Singletons for four years.
While at Singletons, Brown was responsible for an award-winning ad for Tooheys beer featuring a woman who removed a beer cap with her belly button.
He also spent three years at Colenso working on award-winning campaigns for Mazda.
Burrett, a former director of CHE and Clemenger BBDO Sydney, has held senior marketing roles at Franklins and Coles.
He also wrote and delivered the AFA Adschool Retail Marketing course in 2005 and this year.
Burrett would not disclose the buyout price but said The Foundry would expand its retail business while looking at models outside of retail.
This would include drawing on Brown’s “strong experience” in the beer category.
“We’ve got our fingers in a few pies but it’s a case of wait and see,” said Burrett, who is now The Foundry’s managing partner.
However, he said The Foundry has just launched new work for Radio Rentals that reflects “a move away from pure retail into brand retail”.
Said Brown: “We’ve produced some outstanding new work in recent months which is demonstrating the power of ‘big brand’ creative thinking for retail applications”.
A “terrific new campaign” for The Chocolate Box urging people to be “chocomistic” had also been launched in-store and in local press and a new website was planned, Burrett said.
The Foundry will move both its Melbourne and Sydney offices and is looking for new members to join its 24-strong staff.
All of The Ideas Group staff have moved across to The Foundry.
