THE SAATCHI NAME MEANS SOMETHING TO MAURICE
By Adnews Staff
Maurice Saatchi wants his name back. The co-founder of London-based Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising Worldwide is trying to buy back the name of that agency, says a Reuter report. In return, Maurice Saatchi is offering to extend a moratorium on grabbing more clients and staff from Cordiant PLC, Saatchi & Saatchi's current parent company. An agreement that kept Maurice Saatchi's new agency from snatching Cordiant accounts expired last month. A shareholder revolt led to the expulsion of Maurice Saatchi from the position of chairman of Cordiant in December, 1994, when the holding company was still called Saatchi & Saatchi. Subsequently Maurice and his brother Charles started a new agency, called M&C Saatchi, which took a number of accounts away from Saatchi & Saatchi, including the $100-million(US) British Airways worldwide assignment. A flurry of lawsuits followed, but they were resolved out of court in a settlement which imposed the no-poaching restriction on M&C Saatchi.