Let's do lunch inside the world of advertising

What a change a year can make. Early in 1995, Maurice Saatchi was down on his luck, having been ousted from Saatchi and Saatchi, the agency he built with his brother Charles. Maurice was spotted sitting cross-legged at street corners, with a cap on the floor in front of him for passers-by to fill with change, and a dog on a string. But by summer this year his new agency, M&C Saatchi, had already reached 16th in the rankings, and hosted a first birthday party at which the entire Tory cabinet made an appearance. And then his peerage was announced this week. All perfectly delightful for Lord Mo, but one man's feelings have not been taken into account: little brother Charles. After all, it's Charlie who came up with the ads ...

DMB&B's other former joint chairman has finally found his niche. Tony Douglas was ousted from DMB&B in February 1995 after 10 years working alongside Graham Hinton. (Hinton left soon afterwards, for Bates Dorland.) Now Douglas has become chief exec at the Central Office of Information - the first adman from the private sector to land the job. Until now, DMB&B has done a lot for the COI. But how long will that last?

Picture the cover of a downmarket women's weekly magazine - Take a Break, say - depicting the managing director of Lowe Howard-Spink, Tim Lindsay, with a hankie in his hand. In large letters across this weepie shot: "After nine happy years, he started seeing somebody else. So it's over."

Unlikely flight of fancy? No. Because the full-service advertising account for that magazine - and all the others owned by the German publisher JJ Bauer - has indeed been dumped by Lowes because Bauer was holding discussions with other agencies. But if Lowes dumped Bauer, why the hankie? Because the account was worth pounds 3m. As Euro RSCG's Brett Gosper put it, after dumping Guinness some months ago: "A principle isn't a principle until it costs you money."

Abbot Mead Vickers is behaving as though caught in a time loop. Within the last few weeks it has purchased a media agency and poached creative wizards from Bartle Bogle Hegarty. Now it's sniffing out another media- agency purchase - and recruiting creative wizards from Bartle Bogle Hegarty. The latest duo to quit BBH comprises writer Nick Worthington and art director John Gorse. Industry observers calculate that they'll be guaranteed "shed- loads of cash" at AMV. After all, the duo's previous work includes two of the highly acclaimed Levi's ads ("creek" and "drugstore"). And the news agency acquisition? According to Campaign, AMV is in preliminary negotiations with CIA Group about buying IDK Media, renowned for TV buying. But AMV's chief exec, Michael Baulk, refused to confirm that, pronouncing: "We never comment on market speculation."