The Benefit of Hindsight

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Gerry Graf’s success in advertising stems from his creative, rather than operational, acumen. The same goes for Ty Montague. But Graf, the departing New York CCO of Saatchi & Saatchi, and Montague, outgoing North American CCO at JWT, with partner Rosemarie Ryan (who resigned as JWT North American president) are launching their own agencies. And those who blazed the path before them say these creative minds will need to sweat the details as much as the quality of their work to establish lasting businesses.

They had other advice, too, shared with Adweek when we reached out to the principals of nine shops that opened between 2000 and 2009 (five are represented here, four more can be found online at adweek.com/agency).

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