Ed Morris is to remain at Lowe London in his role of executive creative director, after being tipped to quit for Sir Frank Lowe's start-up agency.
Morris, arguably the best CD in Britain right now, was believed to be on the verge of joining other Lowe colleagues, including former chairman Paul Weinberger and creatives Sam Cartmell and Jason Lawes, at Sir Frank's unnamed agency, which has poached the £45m Tesco account from Lowe.
However, Lowe confirmed yesterday that Morris would remain, hinting that his name could go above the door and that he could take an equity stake in the agency.
Lowe's parent company, the Interpublic Group, has taken steps against Sir Frank to stop him using what it claims is confidential information to lure staff and clients to his start-up.
This includes insisting that all Lowe staff who quit are held to their full notice period -- including a year's gardening leave for Weinberger.
Sir Frank has responded with his own legal threat, accusing Interpublic of defamation.
As well as luring a number of Lowe staff to his new venture, Sir Frank is to be joined by two senior executives from DDB London: Paul Hammersley, former chief executive; and David Hackworthy, who was chief strategic officer.