Propaganda has completed a management buy-out, with chairman and founder Julian Kynaston selling a proportion of his shares to an 11-strong team.
The deal, which valued the company at £14 million, will see Kynaston retain his position as both a shareholder and chairman of the business.
The agency has enjoyed significant growth over the last three years, winning a string of high-profile accounts. In the last 12 months alone, the Leeds-based firm has been appointed by Fox\'s Biscuits, The Car People, Alliance & Leicester Commercial Bank and, most recently, Seabrook Crisps.
Joining Kynaston as shareholders are managing director Mike Phillipson, who joined Propaganda in August 2005, three months after leaving PWLC, executive creative director Steve Dixon, commercial finance director Julian Kidger, client services director Laura Kynaston, planning director Julian Horberry, PR director Nick Blythe, group business directors Kirsty Cowan and Alicia O\'Donoghue, purchasing director Mark Pearson, operations director Sara Scott, and company secretary Carolyn Bruce.
At the same time, Propaganda client, Jemella Group has undergone its own management buy-out.
Chief executive and co-founder Martin Penny led a senior management team to the acquisition of the entire share capital of the business. The deal quashes speculation that a buy-out may have resulted in Propaganda’s GHD account being reviewed.
In further developments, the London office of Revolver Communications - Propaganda\'s consumer PR division - was closed last month following the resignations of CEO Penny Brignell and PR director Matt Owen. It will continue to have a Leeds office.
Propaganda, meanwhile, has been appointed by St. Tropez to develop a creative and strategic campaign to strengthen the tanning brand\'s position in the tanning sector.