New BMF MD: “Yes, it’s a challenging time for the business”

New BMF MD: “Yes, it’s a challenging time for the business”
John Bastick
By John Bastick



BMF’s incoming managing director, Steve McArdle, has admitted conditions are “challenging for everybody at the moment” but believed the agency was a win or two away from returning to the summit that saw B&T crown it the agency of the decade.

Yesterday’s announcement that incumbent CEO, Dominic Stinton, was to return to the UK after just 18 months was followed by the news of McArdle’s accession to the MD’s role, while former staffer, Christina Aventi, returns as executive planning director.

According to a statement from BMF, Stinton was returning to the UK for personal reasons.

McArdle praised his predecessor and said Stinton had “done some really good stuff while he was here from an internal services perspective right through to the clients who have the utmost admiration and respect for him. It’s a shame to see him go and now it’s up to me to raise my game and tackle some of the challenges head-on.”

However, McArdle agreed his three years at the agency – that saw it lose CBA to M&C Saatchi – had been “turbulent” but felt the business had dusted itself off and was “entering a positive time for the company”.

“We’ll obviously be looking to create a strong stable environment and Dom (Stinton), in that respect, has left the business in good shape and we’re getting a lot of interest from a lot of clients at the moment, as well as our current clients too,” he said. “ALDI keeps going from strength to strength for us, P&O Cruises is really just launching and we’re really proud of the work we did with Tip Top earlier this year.”

Although he wouldn’t be drawn on the detail, McArdle said future prospects looked promising. “If we can get a couple of new business wins across the line then we’re going to be in really great shape,” he added




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