This week, MDC Partners’ KBS parted ways with executive creative directors Jon Goldberg and Marc Hartzman in New York.
An agency spokesperson attributed the departures to “adjustments based on KBS’ ambitions.” Asked if the agency plans to hire replacements for the roles, the spokesperson said, “We are hiring top creative talent, but redefining roles.”
Goldberg first joined KBS as a creative director back in 2008 and got promoted to ECD four years later. While with KBS, he worked with clients including Steak ‘n Shake, The Vanguard Group and Adopt Us Kids. Before joining the agency he held copywriting/creative positions at Saatchi & Saatchi, McCann New York and CBS’ CSTV Networks.
Hartzman joined KBS as a creative director in 2010, became executive creative director in February of 2013, and focused on the digital portion of the BMW account while also working on NASDAQ and Armani.
The KBS organization has been through a series of changes since parting with its co-CCOs in January. Patrick Scissons of Grey Canada became the agency’s global creative lead over the summer the same week it named a new president, chief strategy officer and chief technology officer in New York. (Stanley Black & Decker had consolidated its account with KBS earlier the same month.)
In October, client BMW debuted the latest edition of its BMW Films series, reuniting the team that worked on the previous entries while at Fallon. KBS was not involved in that project, but the agency spokesperson today stated that this week’s departures were not related to that particular piece of business.