Peterson Milla Hooks has let its president go after just over one year. David Denham joined the independent, Minneapolis-based agency in December 2015.
“PMH and David Denham have made a decision to part ways,” said founder and executive creative director Dave Peterson in a statement regarding today’s news. “We appreciate all his efforts and sincerely wish him the best in his future endeavors.”
An agency spokesperson declined to elaborate on the reasons for his departure or the agency’s plans to find a successor. According to one party, agency leadership simply had different ideas regarding the future of the organization.
Denham replaced Tom Nowak, who sent us a note announcing his resignation in March of 2015 after nearly eight years in the role.
Nowak, who formerly worked in accounts at Wieden + Kennedy and co-founded Minneapolis’ One and All, didn’t let on at the time that he had other plans: one month later he became chief creative officer at Best Buy.
Before joining PMH, David Denham spent three years as president and chief strategy officer at space150. He previously held roles at Colle+McVoy, Sapient and Franklin-Covey, and in a 2016 Star Tribune interview he said that he joined PMH to help Peterson plan its post-Target future.
PMH specializes in retail, and the agency was best-known for a 20-plus year relationship with Target that ended in 2011 as the chain sent its business to fellow Minnesota agency mono. In 2013, AdAge named the shop—which currently works with Fossil, Nine West and others—as its comeback agency of the year.
The team’s most recent staffing news concerned the hire of mono, FCB and Olson veteran Laura Buckley as director of strategy.