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The Interpublic Group of Companies has sidelined Sir Frank Lowe in

its new management line-up announced this week.

Lowe was expected to take the helm of The Partnership, an IPG division

comprising Lowe Lintas & Partners, Initiative Media, Deutsch, Howard

Merrell & Partners, Draft Worldwide, Golin/Harris and Bozell-NY. He will

instead become chairman of Lowe Lintas & Partners and chairman and chief

executive of Octagon.

The Partnership will be run by David Bell, the vice-chairman of

Interpublic.

Jerry Judge takes over as the chief executive of the Lowe network, as

expected.

Lowe said: "It was my idea to bring these partners together. I feel I am

a senior partner. I am very happy and relaxed with the chairmanship of

the agency I started."

However, the IPG statement lists Donny Deutsch, Howard Draft and Jerry

Judge as senior partners, and excludes Lowe.

However, John Dooner, the chairman and chief executive of IPG, denied

that Lowe was being sidelined. "Frank has given up the chief executive

role to Jerry (Judge) so he can focus on what he does and loves best.

His expressed desire is to focus on clients and the creative product.

Also, Octagon is no small measure right now," he said.

Dooner added: "It's really a partnership of CEOs. It was never intended

for Frank to run it."

The new structure sees IPG divided into four units comprising The

Partnership, McCann-Erickson WorldGroup, FCB Group and Advanced

Marketing Services. It follows the group's acquisition of True North

last month.