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The Carat Group has bowed to market conditions and folded its

smallest UK brand, YMG Carat, into TMD Carat. It is also creating a new

research and consultancy company, Carat Insight.

Ray Kelly, the chairman and chief executive of Carat UK, said that the

decision was a recognition of the growing pressure on medium-sized

agencies such as YMG. ’It’s increasingly difficult for agencies of this

size to operate effectively,’ Kelly explained. ’It’s a matter of

resource.’

Kelly said the decision came despite a claimed record year for YMG in

1996. However, wins such as the pounds 10 million Le Shuttle were

tempered by the loss of the pounds 6 million Sterling Health and pounds

8 million Granada Rentals accounts, fuelling speculation that the agency

was facing closure (±±¾©Èü³µpk10, 29 March 1996).

YMG’s consultancy business will be rolled into Carat Research, which is

being relaunched as Carat Insight, combining pure research with

strategic advice.

TMD now picks up YMG’s claimed pounds 60 million billings to bring its

total claimed billings to more than pounds 470 million. Last year, TMD

billed pounds 386 million and YMG pounds 38 million.

YMG’s Evening Standard media account, which spent pounds 2 million last

year according to Register-MEAL, is the only immediate casualty due to a

clash with TMD’s News International business.

Mark Jamison, YMG’s managing director, will become commercial director

of TMD, while the YMG directors, Tim Kirkman, Dave King and Philip

Reddaway, also take top posts.