- Andrew McMains

NEW YORK DDB today confirmed hiring BBDO New York executive creative director Eric Silver to replace Lee Garfinkel as chief creative officer of DDB's New York office.

The hire comes a week after Adweek.com first reported that Silver was in advanced talks to become the top creative at the shop's headquarters here.

Silver, 41, will start Feb. 17.

Garfinkel had been chairman and chief creative office since 2003. In a statement, DDB said only that Garfinkel is "leaving to pursue other creative opportunities." Garfinkel had no immediate comment.

Silver, one of four ecds at BBDO here, is known for his group's Super Bowl work for FedEx -- 2006's "Stick," which shared an Emmy for outstanding commercial -- and Monster.com, including this year's "Double Take." Earlier in his career, as a copywriter and creative director at Cliff Freeman and Partners, he helped create bizarre and slapstick work for the likes of Fox Sports, Budget Rent a Car, Mike's Hard Lemonade and Outpost.com.

"Eric is a tremendous talent who intrinsically understands the essence of great work, which is key to creating the kind of results our clients need. We are thrilled to have someone of his caliber join DDB," said DDB worldwide CEO Chuck Brymer.

DDB worldwide chairman and chief creative officer Bob Scarpelli added that Silver "will bring tremendous innovation and fresh creativity to DDB New York and our clients." Said office president Peter Hempel: "His resume makes him worthy of DDB and his approach to the work and to people make him the right cultural fit."

For Silver, who had worked at BBDO since December 2003, Omnicom's DDB represents his first stab at running a creative department, after years as a group head.

"I am sincerely fired up about joining DDB and helping to contribute to its track record of creative brilliance, especially in this new digital age," Silver said, in a statement.

BBDO will not fill Silver's ecd slot; rather, his duties will be absorbed by another group, an agency representative said. In a statement, David Lubars, BBDO's North American chairman and chief creative officer, acknowledged Silver's "desire to run a department," adding, "We've been lucky enough to have Eric for the past five years."