MCHI opens for business.(CHI & Partners and Group M join forces to launch advertising agency)(Brief article)

WPP's CHI and Group M join forces to launch full-service advertising agency.

CHI & Partners is launching a full-service agency called MCHI, which will offer creative and media buying under one roof.

MCHI, a joint venture with WPP's Group M, is an extension of the agency's previous media offering CHI & Partners Media. It will bring media buying in-house, alongside CHI planners and creatives to provide full-service solutions to clients.

Headed by the managing partners Tim Allnutt and Enyi Nwosu, MCHI claims to have buying clout of pounds 55 million, a staff of 45 and clients including The Carphone Warehouse and its Talk Talk subsidiary, Virgin Money and Tiger Beer, which were already clients of CHI and CHI & Partners Media.

Big Yellow Storage, a CHI client for two years, has also now appointed MCHI to handle its full-service business.

Media buying will be handled by a team recruited from Group M, led by Paul Thomas, a managing partner at Mindshare. Senior CHI staff will also have desks at MCHI, which is based ...