Close-Up: Newsmaker - Moseley looks for an 'art school culture' at H&D.(appointment of Al Moseley at Hurrell and Dawson )

Will hiring Wieden & Kennedy's Al Moseley help Hurrell and Dawson deliver on its creative promises, Kunal Dutta asks.

Two weeks ago, things at Hurrell and Dawson were quiet. Instead of the usual goodwill extended to start-ups, certain loose ends were finding their way on to adland's lunch tables. What had happened to the full-service agency model promised last year? Where was the deal-clinching piece of new business? What had become of the heavyweight media hiring? And had anyone actually seen any creative work?

The agency was quick to bite back. First, it announced Greg Grimmer, the managing director of the Publicis-owned Zed Media, was to join as its third partner, silencing those that questioned the agency's commitment to full service. This was followed last week by the hiring of Al Moseley, Wieden & Kennedy Amsterdam's executive creative director, who was signed as the creative director and fourth partner.

The second signing is even more extraordinary than the first. Moseley was thriving at W&K, masterminding work for Nike, Electronic Arts and Coca-Cola. His CV is packed with iconic work, some of which has shaped the creative offering of its agencies, including a two-year stint at Mother on Orange and Boots, and, before that, at TBWA\London on Sony PlayStation. For a start-up hungry to weave channel-neutral thinking into its tapestry, there can be few better ambassadors than Moseley This summer, his 'happiness factory' campaign for Coke launched a three-minute movie premiere in a purpose-built cinema in Second Life, nearly a year after the TV ad scooped awards at Cannes.

So why has such a renowned creative chosen Hurrell and Dawson as his next port of call? 'Independent agencies such as Mother or Wieden & Kennedy have an entrepreneurial spirit, but there's still always a hankering to go out and create that for yourself,' the 38-year-old says. 'And the chance to build a hybrid agency from the ground up is extremely rare.'

No doubt the influence of an old pal will have helped, too. Dawson and Moseley worked together at TBWA, but their connection goes as far back as 1990, when they met through mutual friends at a party.

Moseley does concede that Hurrell and Dawson's performance, until now, has been steady, if a little underwhelming. Finalists in some of the year's larger pitches, such as the Evening Standard and 3, and a steady flow of moderate wins, including Autotrader, Garrard and Early Learning Centre, have demonstrated glimpses of greater potential. 'Expectations are high,' Moseley says. 'People are ...