A round of executive staffing changes occurred this month at BBDO offshoot Atmosphere Proximity, a shop created by the 2009 merger of Atmosphere BBDO and Proximity Worldwide.
We don’t have specific dates for the shift, but a series of top creatives and directors are no longer with the agency as of this week. The list includes:
- ECD John Gagne
- SVP/Group Account Director Anika Sharma
- SVP/Global Group Account Director Henry Johnston
- Head of UX, Products and Platforms Chris Daly
- Executive Integrated Producer David Quinta
Atmosphere tells us that all of the individuals mentioned have been replaced, though their statement only concerns Gagne:
“We can confirm that those individuals are no longer with Atmosphere Proximity.
In the case of Gagne, his responsibilities have been assumed by Atmosphere’s Executive Creative Director, Stewart Krull.”
We haven’t heard from the agency for some time, and our contact revealed no hint of a reason for the changes–nor did Atmosphere offer details on who has assumed most of the roles listed. (The homepage’s “our people” list does not include much more information on that front.)
The move would appear to be a promotion for Krull, who served as ACD at DDB and Ogilvy before joining Atmosphere in 2007; after the merger he was promoted to ECD, a role he’s held since late 2009 or early 2010 depending on whether you trust this blog or LinkedIn.
The departing executives all have extensive histories in the agency world, though none seem to have landed new gigs at this time.
Our source tells us that “a raft” of ADs and CDs beyond the ones listed recently left Atmosphere as well, but we have no specifics on that.
Updates if/when they come in.