He added that the term "creative agency" was a misnomer for "those old-fashioned dinosaurs" and claimed Initiative was responding to the rapidly changing media landscape.
"We all know the model's bust," Manwaring said. "This is a response to the digital world where things are moving minute by minute, yet the traditional ways of getting content solutions take weeks and months."
The new division, which is yet to be named, will produce creative executions across all media, except broadcast.
Manwaring said it would take Initiative three days rather than three weeks to produce creative digital work.
He added that Initiative would stop short of producing broadcast creative work, whether advertisements or advertiser-funded programming, in-house.
However, rather than cede that territory to the ad agencies, he said Initiative would partner with a broadcaster.
"It's not that difficult if you're doing it with a media owner - we have the idea and go to a media owner and work with them to use their expertise to make it happen for us," Manwaring said.
The new division would also encompass non-traditional media such as advertiser-funded programming, but Manwaring pledged to work with media owners to produce editorial content.
He said it was arrogant for agencies to believe they could replicate the content expertise of media owners or change their culture by bringing in a few specialists.
"They are the kings of content as they are producing it 365 days a year," he said.
"I have huge reservations because just one person can't change the culture, it's impossible. Bringing in specialists who know about content doesn't make you expert in content, to me that's window dressing."
- For further analysis, see this week's Media Week
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