Boase Massimi Pollitt
Boase Massimi Pollitt (BMP) is an advertising agency founded in October 1968 by Martin Boase, Gabe Massimi, and Stanley Pollitt.
The three founders had previously worked at Pritchard Wood, but went their own way after failing to buy the company from its parent. Cadbury-Schweppes had been a client of Pritchard Wood, and BMP's first campaign was for Cadbury's Smash, a powdered mashed-potato mix. Other early BMP campaigns included the Cresta bear ("it's frothy, man"), Hofmeister bear, the Humphreys, and John Smith's Arkwright.
In 1977, Havas of France paid £1.5m for a 50% stake in BMP. It later sold its holding back to BMP.
In 1983, BMP floated on the London Stock Exchange valued at £16 million. After a hostile bid by a French company, BMP was bought in 1989 for £125 million ($200 million) by DDB Worldwide, part of Omnicom Group, a giant American holding company controlling many agencies.
A poll in 2000 that selected the UK's top 100 television commercials found that 16 were produced by BMP DDB. [citation needed] One example was the BMP advertisements for the Barclaycard credit card, featuring an accident-prone card user, later expanded into the character of Johnny English played by Rowan Atkinson. [citation needed] BMP is also regularly honoured at the Clio awards in the U.S. [citation needed]
The company is said to have a strong relationship with the Labour Party, dating from the early 1970s when it placed press advertisements for the TUC, attacking the then-Conservative government's Industrial Relations Bill. Chris Powell, BMP DDB Needham's chief executive, is the brother of Jonathan Powell, the Labour Party's chief of staff, and several people who served in the Labour Party's Shadow Communications Agency came from BMP.
