Travissully merger marks end of CDP's distinguished career.(Brief Article)

Merger of travissully with CDP will not solve Dentsu's woes.

The news that the Japanese giant Dentsu is merging its two UK agencies comes as no surprise (Campaign, last week).

CDP, which lost its flagship Honda business to Wieden & Kennedy earlier this year, is being bundled together with travissully to cope with an aggressively down, turning market.

But Dentsu has not seized the opportunity to stamp its name on London's adland -- instead, the new agency is taking the convoluted name of cdp-travissully.

The official line is that Dentsu is keen to use established agency names within its territories, rather than extend its own brand. In fact, it would lose considerable face if it were to drop the original names -- after all, it was these that Dentsu invested in in the first place. Preserving the names of CDP, which it wholly owns, and travissully, in which it has a majority stake, is the best of a variety of options for the Japanese holding company.

Travissully's founders, Peter Travis and Gill Sully, have their feet firmly in the door of the new agency, as the chief executive and the creative director respectively. CDP's chief executive, Chris McLeod, becomes chairman. But it seems unlikely that CDP's managing director, Simon Myers, will remain in the frame, putting his deputy, Simon North, in pole position for the job at cdp-travissully.

And what of the new joint creative directors, Mick Mahoney and Andy Amadeo? Neither will be drawn on their future, but it seems unlikely, having taken charge of a creative department, that they will be content to deputise.