When IPG folded Lowe into Mullen, everyone wondered where the man who supposedly engineered the deal would go next. Now we know. Former Lowe CEO Michael Wall, who helped “create the roadmap” for Mullen Lowe Group, has been appointed as Mother’s global CEO. He will work out of Mother’s London office alongside existing Mother Holdings partners, Matt Clark, Andy Medd, Robert Saville and Mark Waites, leading Mother’s business across all offices as well as expanding Mother to new markets and sectors.
Wall served as CEO at Lowe and Partners beginning in September of 2009, when he filled a role left by the departure of Stephen Gatfield, who agreed in 2006 to take the role for three years. Prior to joining Lowe, Wall was best known as one of the founding partners of Fallon, where he helped oversee the agency’s rise to prominence and became president international in 2005 before leaving the agency two years later. He briefly served as CEO of BBDO Portugal before becoming global CEO at Lowe. Wall began his career as a graduate trainee at DMB&B, where he worked on accounts including Budweiser, P&G and COI. In 1992 he joined Lowe Howard Spink, where he worked on the agency’s Coca-Cola and Tesco accounts. He became a board account director for start-up Simons Palmer (who later merged with TBWA) in 1995, working on the Sony Playstation launch.
“We have been chasing Mr Wall for years,” said Robert Saville. “He is not an easy man to catch. He wasn’t an easy man to beat either as Mother and Fallon faced up against each other over the years. Mother has needed Michael’s skills in business leadership for a while.But more importantly we welcome a genuinely good person with the same passion for the transformative power of creativity into the family. I suspect Michael will make us all better.”