EDITORIAL: Saatchis' return to form is good news.(Saatchi and Saatchi)(Brief Article)(Editorial)

It's been a long catharsis on which many painful truths have had to be confronted and confounded. But Saatchi & Saatchi is at last offering tangible evidence of having exorcised its old demons. The Grand Prix and a sackful of other awards at Cannes leading to the Festival's Agency of the Year accolade bear testament to the feeling that Charlotte Street is rediscovering its creative edginess.

Even more important, the agency has proved itself capable of holding its own in the most savage of economic downturns by becoming the top ranking UK agency group by income, according to the latest IPA table.

It's all a welcome contrast to the angst-ridden days of the early 90s.

Charles and Maurice Saatchi had departed in the most public bust-up in advertising history, taking the most charismatic senior managers with them. The agency seemed in danger of becoming an anonymous middle-ranker turning out competent but not outstanding work. Publicly, the place dubbed 'oldco' by defectors at the brothers' 'agency-in-exile' maintained the facade of preserving a culture which had been irreparably damaged. Privately, resentment and bitterness was devouring it. Much credit, therefore, to James Hall, the incoming chief executive, who has grasped nettles that his predecessors either wouldn't or couldn't.

Hall has ...