Close-Up: Newsmaker - Cadman and Lidstone double-act joins Euro.(Mark Cadman and Russ Lidstone take new positions at Euro RSCG)

Cadman shunned JWT and Frank Lowe to stay with Lidstone and get the CEO job he's been waiting for.

Mark Cadman has been through quite the tug-of-love drama in the past few weeks. Not many senior advertising executives are desirable enough to boast three eager suitors blessed with the charm and disposable incomes of Sir Frank Lowe, Sir Martin Sorrell and the as-yet-unknighted David Jones. It's enough to go to a man's head.

The smart money was on the start-up, with Cadman leaving his post as the JWT managing director to join Sir Frank, Paul Hammersley, David Hackworthy and Paul Weinberger and rekindle his relationship with Tesco. On paper, that looked like an unbeatable offer - equity in a company with income of pounds 5 million at start-up; a 24-carat-gold client, and the prospect of growth to look forward to.

Then there's JWT. Cadman must have sensed he would not be handed the vacant chief executive's chair, but managing director of JWT is surely safer than a role at Euro RSCG after its car-crash 2005. Compared with a job running a beleaguered agency, underperforming and rudderless since Ben Langdon's departure in September 2005 and shorn of several key clients, a future either at JWT or with Sir Frank must surely have been tempting.

What persuaded Cadman and his longtime planning partner-cum-sidekick, Russ Lidstone, to take the positions of chief executive and strategy director at Euro was, Cadman says, a mixture of enthusiasm and opportunity: 'It's an entrepreneurial culture. The lack of network process makes it a real opportunity.'

'This is an excellent endorsement of Euro's ability to attract the best talent in the industry and to allow smart, entrepreneurial people the freedom they can't get in the more traditional holding companies,' Jones, the Euro RSCG Worldwide chief executive, says. No doubt a lucrative profit-share package also played a key role in securing the pair.

Finding a management team for London was his 'number-one priority' for 2006. 'This now completes the triangle for us. We have the largest and most creative agency in France and the hottest agency currently in New York,' he adds. 'This puts us in a terrific position in London. I'm excited about both the future here and what this combination of agencies is going to be able to deliver for clients.'