M&C Saatchi Melbourne is merging with Samuelson Talbot & Partners (ST&P) with Bob Talbot to lead the merged agencies as chief executive.

ST&P partner Paul Taylor will be executive creative director and M&C’s managing director Kenny Hill will retain his role at the agency to be known as M&C Saatchi Melbourne.

M&C Saatchi Australia CEO Jaimes Leggett said: “This is a great move for us – the merger enables us to work with some incredibly talented people, great clients and to bring some real scale to our Melbourne operation.”

The merger will bolster M&C Saatchi Melbourne which was hit with the departure of its client Opel from the market after less than a year. In February the agency lost Tennis Australia to CumminsRoss and it was rocked when ANZ left the business in 2011.

Tom Dery, M&C Saatchi Worldwide chairman, said: “ST&P is a highly-regarded, long-established agency run by two of the best and most experienced operators in Melbourne. It is a forward thinking business driven by a very strong entrepreneurial ethos – one that fits very well with how we operate at M&C Saatchi.”

New Melbourne CEO Talbot said the merger is an opportunity “to leverage a powerful brand name that we believe will create better opportunities for our clients and our people”.

“What attracted us was the M&C Saatchi Worldwide model – a federation of entrepreneurial start ups with owner managers rather than a multinational network of offices. This is totally aligned with how we view business,” he added.

Taylor’s appointment as ECD marks a return to the M&C fold, he was M&C’s first creative appointment in Sydney when it launched in 1995. After two years he moved to M&C Saatchi Melbourne, which he lead creatively for a further eight.