Griffiths, who has been running his own marketing consultancy, Cornergate, which will now be absorbed into Driven along with its existing client base.

Meanwhile, Graham Drury, TBWA’s brand director, will become a fourth partner in the agency in March. Drury was initially set to join Cornergate, but will now make the move to Driven once his notice period at TBWA has been complete. All four will be equal partners in the business.

“We want to send the message out that it’s a totally fresh start,” explained Lear.

Brookes and Lear exited TBWA in August ahead of the group’s plans to restructure its Manchester businesses, a move that saw TBWA relinquish the BDH name. Since then, Lear has freelanced for a number of agencies.

Brookes said: “Neil was doing Cornergate, taking on Graham, and I had started working with Chris. We were almost thinking in parallel, but were going off in separate directions. It was only when we started talking this year that we realised the similarity in what we were doing. Together, we have a strong and more rounded proposition.”

Each of the partners said they resisted “a number of offers” to join other agencies.

Brookes said: “We now think this is a good time to bring something new and compelling to the market. We’ve talked to a lot of people and studied what’s been happening in the Manchester scene closely. There is clearly an opportunity to offer something that combines the vitality of a new born, with the reassurance of proven big brand experience at the highest level. For clients, marketing’s not about indulgence; it’s a business necessity that needs to be held accountable.

“Creating ideas that sell has always been central to all our individual beliefs...Fundamentally, we will be a business about driving measurable results for clients – everything we do in terms of structure will be based around that and everything we do in terms of what we promise to clients will be based around that.”

Speculation will now turn to which clients Driven will be working with, and Lear revealed an announcement regarding new business could be expected soon.
Griffiths added: “Given the calibre of people involved, we think this is the most significant agency launch in the north west for nearly a decade.