Mission Group folds Krow into Bray Leino as creative chief Darryl George exits

The Mission Group is merging Krow into Bray Leino, retiring a 21-year-old London agency brand and consolidating two of its biggest businesses into a single integrated shop. The combined agency will trade as Bray Leino, employ 328 people and be run by chief executive Kate Cox, with Wayne Deakin as chief creative officer. Deakin joined the group at the start of 2026 and was already working across Bray Leino, Krow and the group’s Story agency.

Darryl George, Krow’s group executive creative director, is leaving as part of the change. Other senior Krow figures are staying: Ashika Chauhan, Paul Wallet and Matt Watts move into expanded roles inside the enlarged Bray Leino. All Krow clients transfer to the merged agency, which now lists Aviva, BMW, Bensons, the Post Office and Thatchers Cider among its accounts.

Mission has described the move as part of a push toward fuller integration of its agencies, with fewer but larger units. The group, listed on London’s AIM market, has spent the past two years simplifying its portfolio of agencies.

Why it matters

The merger brings together two agencies with very different roots. Bray Leino was founded in 1973 by David Morgan in North Devon and was bought by Mission in 2006 for £24.5 million; Krow launched in London in 2005 and was acquired by the group in 2018 in a deal worth up to £14.5 million. Krow also had a substantial base in Leicester, which is why the deal is being followed closely in the East Midlands. The combined business spans strategy, creative, customer experience, digital, media, social, CRM, data, activation and production.

Deciding which brand survives is often the most sensitive part of an agency merger, and Mission has chosen the older, larger and less London-centric name. That suggests the group sees more value in Bray Leino’s full-service regional model than in Krow’s positioning as a London creative shop.

What’s next

The integration mirrors what is happening at a far larger scale across the industry, where holding companies from Omnicom to WPP are collapsing agency brands into fewer, bigger platforms. For Mission’s clients, the immediate questions are about team continuity and whether the Leicester and London offices retain their distinct roles. Mission has not announced job losses alongside the merger, but the departure of George, one of the group’s most senior creatives, will be read as a sign that the leadership bench has been thinned to fit one agency rather than two.