Close-Up: Can the quiet DDB lifer revitalise FCB London?

Andrew Fraser swapped DDB for the challenge of turning round the troubled FCB's creative output, Kate Nicholson says.

Nigel Jones, FCB London's chief executive, and his newly appointed creative director, Andrew Fraser, have more than a few things in common.

Both are quiet, but frighteningly intelligent. Both have spent much of their careers - in Fraser's case, his entire career - at DDB London (and its previous incarnation, BMP DDB). And both are passionate about FCB London adopting an integrated approach to its output.

But mention Fraser's name and you might be met with blank faces. As James Best, DDB Worldwide's chief people and strategic officer and a former colleague of Fraser's, explains: 'Andrew is not someone who seeks the limelight. He is more Adrian Holmes than Mark Wnek. At FCB, perhaps it's time he raises his voice a bit more.'

On closer inspection, you realise Fraser is the guiding hand behind The Guardian's 'fresh' campaign and Volkswagen's 'surprisingly ordinary prices' work that scooped a D&AD silver in the Integrated Advertising Campaign category, four Cannes gold Lions and a BTAA ITV Ad of the Year award, to name a few.

In 1991, at the age of 29, Fraser joined BMP, where he worked for John Webster, a man he describes as 'my mentor, the great man himself' Working his way up from creative placement to creative partner, his portfolio boasts work for John Smith's, PG Tips, the launch of The Guardian's Berliner format and Channel 4's launch of More4.

So why, after 15 years at the same outfit, did Fraser decide to move to FCB London? After all, FCB is not ...