CLOSE-UP: NEWSMAKER - JONATHAN RIGBY. Banks gambles on unproven Rigby to revive BHO.(Banks Hoggins O'Shea/FCB)

Rigby is confident that he is ready for the challenge at BHO, Mark Sweney says.

The appointment of Jonathan Rigby as the managing director of Banks Hoggins O'Shea/FCB has raised some industry eyebrows.

After the management implosion at BHO two weeks ago - which saw the managing partners, Steve Hastings and Paul Houlding, along with the creative directors, Rob Fletcher and Dave Alexander, quit - the chief executive and chairman, John Banks, waxed lyrical on the subject of the perfect candidate for the role.

Johnny Hornby, a co-founder of Clemmow Hornby Inge, was held up by Banks as the yardstick he had used in seeking the perfect candidate to turn the fortunes of the agency around.

But Rigby is no Hornby. He lacks his profile and, as the head of account management at Lowe, has no managing director experience. The parting shot of Tim Lindsay, the president of Lowe & Partners Worldwide, voiced the view of many when he described Banks' choice of Rigby as 'drawing from the ranks of our middle managers'.

However, Banks argues he was deliberately seeking new blood. 'Why I picked him is a very difficult question to answer. I looked at a range of people in the 48-year-old age bracket and most had done it all before. So I concentrated on those who needed to prove they could create and run something.'

This tactic is a little risky. In what some term the most difficult market conditions in advertising history, now might not be the best time to get in a new guy with a point to prove and see how it goes. Many would argue that experience is what is called for to steady the ship. However, it would be a mistake to underestimate Banks' ability to spot talent - he was, after all, the man who plucked Rupert Howell from the ranks at Young & Rubicam, spying his potential.