DESIGN: THE DESIGN FACTOR - Advertising agencies are increasingly getting involved with the design side of the business. Lucy Aitken and Wendy Smith look at their design credentials.(Brief Article)

When Rover uses M&C Saatchi, it doesn't just tap into the agency's advertising skills to convey its message. The client can select a range of services through what M&C Saatchi calls its 'village' of companies. And one of its recent acquisitions to the village has been its partnership with the design agency Smith & Milton.

The joint chief executive, Nick Hurrell, believes there are considerable creative advantages to be gained from this approach. 'We feel we can control the strategy of communications in one place and therefore avoid any conflict of loyalty. All our village ventures are either 100 per cent owned by partnerships or us. That means that there is no profit and loss rivalry.'

However, setting up your own operations and growing the various different media disciplines organically to service and satisfy a client's potential needs is not the only approach. In some instances ad agencies and branding agencies work side by side on the same account to bring about a unified message for their clients.

This was the scenario with one of Grey's flagship clients, Mars, when the chocolate brand wanted to rebrand. Grey came up with the curvier font and a design agency, Jones Knowles Ritchie, implemented it.

Tim Mellors, the chairman, chief creative officer and managing partner at Grey, says: 'Research done by Mars indicated it needed a lighter, more modern feel. So the strategy was worked out and given to a design group.

It came out really well as we worked hand in hand with them. I wouldn't say that was the norm, though, as outside design groups have sometimes taken the campaign idea and bastardised it.'

Mellors is critical of the role of brand consultants and what they can bring to the marketing function. 'If an ad agency doesn't understand the component elements which go to make the strength of the brand, what are they going to do? It's nonsense to believe that ad agencies can't provide the kind of expertise that design consultants can.'