MGM's bright young thing sets out his five-year agency plan.

Matt James is living up to his potential as a face to watch, Anna Griffiths says

Manning Gottlieb Media may appear to have lost its grip on its prized Nike account, but having undergone substantial growth in the past year and doubled in size, there has been a reordering of the management chairs leading to the creation of a new post for a managing director.

Taking on the mantle of this new role is Matt James, a board director at MGM, who has already held a pretty vociferous post and been projected as one of the agency's bright young things. A former Campaign face to watch (in 1997), James has taken on a lot of responsibility at the tender age of 28.

Looking ever-so-slightly like a younger, slimmer version of founding partner Colin Gottlieb, James is frighteningly evangelical about MGM and his future there, and at times sounds a bit like a McKinsey text book. He pronounces: "To me, MGM -- and I genuinely mean this -- is the best opportunity in London. We are absolutely poised to be the agency of the year. We have the people and the structure."

While the partners' board, which includes the founders Gottlieb and Nick Manning, focuses on MGM's external presence, James will be there to hone the agency's operations, sharpen its new-business credentials and, ultimately, to be part of the succession management. Gottlieb says: "He can see that if at some time we do want to move on, then there is a massive opportunity because it is an autonomous company."

James is hungry to make an impact on MGM and to fulfil the managing partners' expectations. When asked where he would like to take the company in five years' time, he takes up the mantra of MGM being the best. "In five years' time, as well as being in a leadership position, I want us to be on every major new-business list in terms of the premier league of clients."

Some industry observers have suggested that as MGM has grown rapidly, there have been staff who have felt too removed from the managing partners who have had to concentrate on the company's external positioning. The placement of a new managing director could be a salvo to try and prevent such feelings, as James will be expected to listen to the staff and get them to help him shape the agency's future. James acknowledges this: "The structure is there to ensure that people do not feel their contribution is removed from the business. It's about ensuring that we can strengthen that MGM culture. It's about drawing people back in with a feeling of ...