Well, this is an interesting one to head into the long weekend. Multiple spies are telling us that Reed Collins, who left his SVP/ECD post at Leo Burnett’s Chicago hub nearly two years ago, has rejoined the agency to help lead creative on its Coca-Cola creative biz, mainly Sprite. In early 2011, Collins split for his native Australia to join up with Campaign Palace as national chief creative officer.
We’re still trying to confirm start date title with the Leo camp, but in the meantime, we’ll rehash the quick bio rundown and tell you that Collins has had stints at Mojo & Partners in Sydney, TBWA\Hunt Lascaris in Johannesburg, Lowe Howard-Spink in London and the now-defunct Cliff Freeman & Partners in NYC during his career. We’ll keep you posted if and when we get confirmation.
Update: The Leo camp is saying otherwise regarding Collins’ return. We’ll update if and when we hear differently.
Update 2: It looks like Campaign Brief has done the dirty work for us as Collins himself tells the trade he’s left JWT Sydney, is taking a break until early 2013 and has no plans to rejoin Leo Burnett. Sorry for the false alarm, folks, and enjoy your break, Reed.