Media: Behind the hype - Ingram Partnership proves its mettle one year on.

The operation prides itself on its business nous and is set to grow, Lucy Aitken says.

'People said Chris (Ingram) was Roman Abramovich and we were Chelsea,' Carol Fisher, the business strategy partner at The Ingram Partnership and the former COI Communications chief, says.

TIP launched a year ago and comparisons with Chelsea FC's Russian owner were made after Ingram went on a shopping spree, buying Unity, the brand consultancy The Gathering and Butterfield8, the consultancy launched by Leslie Butterfield.

Ingram said last year: 'We are offering senior management a real alternative. This is about building brands in a business context.'

It promised to help clients build business from a brand perspective but what has it achieved in its first year? Staff numbers have swelled to 28 and TIP is heavy on talent. Ivan Pollard and Andy Tilley from Unity work alongside The Gathering's Duncan Bruce and Marc Cox. Ditlev Schwanenflugel, a former McKinsey management consultant, is a founding partner.

Schwanenflugel's background adds credibility to TIP's claim to offer senior-level strategic advice and project management. 'We combine the intellectual rigour of management consultants with the creativity and consumer insight from the agency side,' Fisher says.

TIP sprung from a belief that there is demand for its services because traditional agencies do not understand their clients' businesses. 'J. Walter Thompson used to write its clients' marketing plans,' Fisher reminisces. 'I don't think that happens now.'