Gatecrasher, BCY to join forces from August 1

Gatecrasher and Bowtell Clarke & Yole have announced they will combine their resources as of August 1.

The combined agency will have around 20 staff and will be located in BCY’s refurbished premises in Rokeby Road, Subiaco.

Gatecrasher will vacate their Churchill Avenue office, which they moved into little more than a year ago.

“The two agencies share a fierce creative commitment and the strengths of the two teams are complementary” said Gatecrasher Managing Director, Tony Scampoli (pictured above left).

The agency will operate under the name Gatecrasher meaning the BCY name, which has been part of the industry in one form or another since 1986, will be consigned to history.

BCY Principal, Richard Clarke (pictured above right) said he was looking forward to being able to provide clients with a broader and deeper suite of traditional and digital resources.

“We’re going to be a force to be reckoned with”, he said.

It’s understood Clarke has been looking for a merger for some time, having shoulderedresponsibility for the management and new business prospecting as well as creative direction for his agency almost single-handedly for the two past decades. He told Campaign Brief he was looking forward to lessening some of that administrative load but was firmly committed to staying with the business.

BCY began in 1986 when Richard Clarke and Russell Bowtell established Bowtell Clarke Advertising. It became Bowtell Clarke and Yole in 1988 when JMA account director Paul Yole joined the duo (Ironically, Yole joined Gatecrasher in 2002 and was part of thesenior management team there until 2007, when he left to join The BrandAgency).

BCY was one of Perth’s highest profile outfits through to the early-90s but has had a much lower profile over the last twenty or so years.

Gatecrasher was established by Adam Barker, Lori Canalini and Scampoli in 2001, who all left Marketforce to start the business. Their fortunes have waxed and waned sincethen, with the last 12 months having been particularly challenging. HoweverScampoli said this merger plus some other recent developments had brightened their outlook considerably.