Hasta La Creative!

Today we hear that ECD Todd Miller has moved from Team Omnicom to Team WPP after less than a year with TBWAInteger.

Miller joined Integer in February after serving as VP/CD at The Garage Team Mazda (joining the team in June 2012) and working in a freelance capacity at Los Angeles-based production companies Booz Digital and Digital Kitchen. He also spent two years as VP/CD at Team Detroit/PULSE, and prior agency experience includes creative roles at M&C Saatchi Santa Monica, DDB, RPA and FCB.

His newest role is that of ECD at WPP’s LUNCHBOX, which is not a traditional agency but a “shopper engagement agency” focused on creating a variety of work for retail clients.

A tipster tells us that Miller made the switch due to a desire to remain on the West Coast (Integer is based in Colorado).

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Ross Phernotten has rejoined the Proximity family as SVP/ECD at Barefoot Proximity in Cincinnati.

Phernotten most recently served as CCO/editor at Staff; this company was part of Samsung Accelerator, the company’s New York-based startup “incubator.” He also has an extensive agency history, serving as CD/SVP of Proximity’s Minneapolis office before leaving for Samsung in summer 2013. He first joined the Omnicom team in 2000 at sister agency BBDO Minneapolis, and altogether he spent 15 years with the Minnesota shops while worked for clients like Formica, the Minnesota Vikings and Hormel.

In the new position, he will be responsible for Barefoot Proximity’s creative output. Phernotten begins on November 15th.

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Today’s “we hear” concerns moves by two creative leads.

First, we can confirm that Creative Director Tony Lund, who joined New York’s Barbarian Group in January after a pre-Christmas announcement, is no longer with the agency. While we have no official statement on the “why,” our tipster claims that the two parties simply didn’t match up.

Lund primarily handled Pepsi at Barbarian, joining the agency after spending two years as a CD at McCann New York (where he worked on Chevrolet for Commonwealth and IKEA, among other accounts). He started his ad career at Sweden’s Forsman & Bodenfors.

No word on where he will be heading or when/how the agency plans to replace him.

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Today we can confirm that three top executives have either left or will be leaving their respective agencies.

First: Tito Melega, who was creative director, Americas at TBWAChiatDay, is no longer with the agency as of today. Melega, who spent four years with TBWA, described his own role as “Creative Director, Americas of all things Nissan.”

At the moment, we have no word on where Melega is heading or who will replace him, though a spokesperson tells us that CCO Steven Butler ”is currently creative lead.” For context, the client most recently shared a bit of “Tough Love” via 80s rocker Bret Michaels.

Logic would lead one to believe that Melega will land another role at a major agency, quite possibly one with notable auto industry clients: prior to joining TBWA and working on Nissan, he held the VP/CD position at BBDO, where his accounts included Mitsbushi.

He was an art director at Team One from 2000 to 2005, and his earlier career includes stints at AD positions with JWT, Fallon, Ogilvy and Saatchi & Saatchi Los Angeles.

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Ronny Northrop is now ECD at Y&R California. Northrop, who will report to CCO Mimi Cook in the agency’s San Francisco office, previously spent extended stints as a copywriter at CP+B and creative director at GS&P. Before joining Y&R, he spent time freelancing for 72andSunny, Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners and others. While Northrop’s resume indicates that he joined Y&R in February, AdAge mentioned the change for the first time today.

Hawthorne Direct promoted John Pucci to the position of Chief Marketing & Creative Officer. Pucci, who joined the agency in 2011, has served as SVP/CCO since 2013; in his new role he will oversee all “marketing, publicity and promotional activities.” Prior to joining Hawthorne, Pucci served as ECD at Havas Edge in Hollywood, and his recent agency history includes SVP/ECD stints at Publicis and RAPP. Earlier in his career, he worked as art director at Saatchi & Saatchi, held the GCD position at DDB LA, and served as a partner at TracyLocke.

He has also worked in-house for organizations as varied as Walt Disney World, E! Networks and Mattel.

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Grey London announced yesterday that Chief Creative Officer Nils Leonard is being promoted to the role of chairman. Leonard will continue on in his previous role while also being tasked with driving innovation across the company.

Leonard first joined Grey London back in 2007, becoming an executive creative director and then chief creative officer at the agency. Prior to Grey London, Leonard served as head of art/creative director at United and senior designer/art director at Abbot Mead Vickers BBDO. Prior to that he spent five years as head of art/design at Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R. Among his best-known work at Grey London is Vodafone’s “Kiss” and McVities recent campaign featuring kittens and puppies, which Time magazine called “the cutest thing ever put on television.” (more…)

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Thanks to a tipster and our friendly neighborhood LinkedIn, we can confirm that an ad industry veteran has moved to either the dark or light side (depending on your perspective).

Zach Canfield, who has nearly fifteen years of experience in creative recruiting and director of talent roles with GS&P and Wieden+Kennedy, is now global creative recruiting lead at Google.

We have no details regarding his move, but it would appear that the West Coast’s tech titans are now actively poaching talent from local agencies (not that this is a new development). While Canfield doesn’t have creative credits on campaigns, he does have many recommendations for “creative direction.” On his profile he writes, “I’ve been lucky enough to work with and hire some of the best creatives in the world,” so we assume he played a role in hiring a few of the creatives mentioned on this very blog.

His only appearance on AgencySpy to date came back in July, when we shared an image of GS&P’s new reception area. The critical response was…divided.

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Wunderman isn’t the only New York agency to name a new chief creative officer today. This morning, principals at Grey NY announced the hiring of Andreas Dahlqvist.

Dahlqvist, who founded DDB Stockholm in 2004 and served as ECD/managing partner there for several years, most recently held the titles of vice chairman, McCann New York and deputy global CCO for brands within the larger McCann organization, which he joined in 2011.

He also served as global CCO at the GM-focused Commonwealth//McCann, and his name appears atop all of that agency’s latest campaigns. His most memorable AgencySpy appearance to date occurred as part of the dress-alike project “Partnerganger,” which may or may not have been inspired by the Ogilvy tumblr “Work Twinsies.”

The release tells us that the new CCO, who has won “every major creative award,” will oversee Grey’s entire 500-strong creative department. President/Worldwide CCO Tor Myhren writes:

“Few people in this industry have done what Andreas has…started his own agency from scratch and built it into the best digital agency on the planet.”

Dahlqvist will report to/work closely with Myrhen and North American CEO Michael Houston.

Memo from those two after the jump.

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Last month, we broke the news that key Hill Holliday client Cadillac was “quietly talking to other agencies” before the account officially went to Lowe Campbell Ewald.

Tips about pending cuts began arriving soon after the news went live, and today we can confirm that the agency has let some staffers go over the past few days. Following a string of wildly inaccurate tips, we received a call and an official statement from an agency spokesperson, who placed the number of layoffs at less than five percent of the total Hill Holliday workforce.

Here’s the statement:

“We have recently made some necessary staffing adjustments to ensure the future success and growth of the agency. While it’s never easy to make hard decisions like this, we are confident these changes will better position us for continued success. Our industry is changing at a rapid pace, and like any responsible business we must adjust accordingly, and embrace that change as opportunity.”

According to Glassdoor, that “less than five percent” total includes between 25 and 50 employees, many of whom presumably spent time on the Cadillac account.

Tips vary on specifics: one reader tells us that cuts began in the HR department last week and another claims that management officially announced creative layoffs today. The latter also writes that a majority of those affected worked in the creative department.

Updates as we receive them.

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JWT announced today that Lucie Greene has been appointed as worldwide director of JWTIntelligence. She will be responsible for “driving JWT’s consumer insights and trends-focused initiatives, adding bench strength to the agency’s trends unit, JWTIntelligence.” She will be based out of New York and report to JWT Worldwide Planning Director Guy Murphy.

“Lucie’s experience is a strong complement to JWT’s longstanding and highly respected trends unit. She will deepen our understanding of cultural shifts and drive innovation possibilities for our client brands,” said Murphy in a press release.

Greene joins JWT from LS:N Global, the forecasting division of London-based trends consultancy The Future Laboratory, where she led a team of researchers that forecast trends for clients such as Nike, Google, Marks & Spencer, H&M, Estée Lauder and Westfield. She also presented for organizations including Estée Lauder, Virgin, Rolls-Royce, and Ralph Lauren on trends, and led strategic content partnerships with Retail Week Live and Cosmetic Executive Women. Prior to joining The Future Laboratory, Greene was a regular contributor to The Financial Times, Women’s Wear Daily, Vogue UK, Elle Decor UK and The Telegraph, while working with clients such as Richemont Group, LVMH and Space NK on branded content projects. (more…)

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