Jan Jacobs and Leo Premutico, former star creatives at Saatchi and Saatchi New York, have opened their own agency with help from WPP.

"It wouldn't have really mattered where we were," Jacobs told shots.net. "We've just come to a point in our careers where we feel now is the time to follow our dream and we think we have a perspective on the future of advertising and we want to make that happen for our clients."

Premutico and Jacobs have set up shop overlooking New York's Hudson River and named their agency Johannes Leonardo. Jacobs explained: "We got a call from Martin Sorrell [WPP chief executive officer] and we went and saw him. We worked out a deal where Leo and I are the majority shareholders, which was very important to us. We needed that control for doing the kind of thing that we want to do."

Having won more than 30 Cannes Lions over their careers, Jacobs and Premutico are also widely acknowledged as prime movers in Saatchi & Saatchi New York's recent resurgence. The duo won a Cannes Grand Prix this year for a Tide detergent campaign for the agency.

"We've had great success with brands such as BMW and the New York Times," said Premutico, "as well as with what some perceive to be not-so-great brands such as Tide washing powder, Folger's coffee and Wendy's. We're looking for forward-thinking clients and those sorts of people are what make the difference to what work comes out."

Click here for the Johannes Leonardo website.