Ian Reichenthal and Scott Vitrone have left TBWA/Chiat/Day/NY for Y&R. The pair is known for their Skittles and Starburst work, which we personally love. You know, Y&R better produce some groundbreaking working this coming year after stealing all these creative types including Tony Granger from Saatchi.
Vitrone told Creativity Online, who broke the story, that:
“We met [Y&R Global CEO] Hamish McLennan in Cannes last year and we just got to talking to him, and he just followed up. We had quite a few meetings with him. It was clear when he hired Tony, and from our conversations, he is 100 percent committed to great creative work.”
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And the poaching isn’t over yet. Hamish told the magazine that:
“I think you’ll see more hires across the globe. We’ve taken a view about where we want to take the business and we want to be known for doing brilliant work for all the mediums. This is just the beginning.”
This is just the beginning of Y&R attempting to rebuild their agency. Lots of folks have taken a person from here, another from there to great success. Looking for a new gig? Call Hamish. We hear they’re paying top dollar.
Meanwhile, why don’t they just close TBWA\C\D New York? Isaac Silverglate and Jeff Anderson bailed last week for Droga5. Tony’s gone. Now, these two and let’s not forget that just last month, TBWA\Chiat\Day New York executive creative director Gerry Graf became chief creative officer of Saatchi & Saatchi’s [source]. Note to TBWA: dudes… take his name off your website, yeah? Meanwhile, somewhere Kevin Roberts is just seething that he didn’t snag Reichental and Vitrone, too.
Corey Mitchell, President of the New York office of T\C\D must have concocted an ulcer by now. Are there any creatives left in the TBWA\C\D NY office? The agency still has some bigwigs though. They recently hired Shane Ankeney from Doner to assume the new role of executive director of audience planning. He’s probably wondering if he made the right decision. Executive Director Strategy, Suzanne Powers, who is in charge of new business, should be you know… doing her job or alternatively, looking for an exit strategy. She might be thinking to herself right now – “I never should of left California.” Jamie Gallo, managing director, who was saddled with the Sprint account in 2006, is probably taking it all in stride. He’s seen worse and done a good job for Absolut lately.
Sigh. Seriously… can you imagine the email Mitchell is going to send to staffers tomorrow? Classic.