Huntington Beach agency Innocean has made some key staffing changes in recent weeks following the January arrival of new CCO Eric Springer.
You may remember the epic goodbye email in which copywriter Matt League individually thanked all 343 of the agency’s employees (and one demanded that we remove his/her name). Group creative director Max Godsil also traded coasts for a job at Omnicom’s Merkley+Partners in New York.
Another GCD has been let go, and earlier this month a key planner returned.
Miles Turpin left last week after just over three years as a VP/group creative director. He has spent well over 25 years in the agency world, holding senior creative positions at various shops at which he primarily led automotive accounts including Team One, Saatchi & Saatchi (Toyota), Y&R (Land Rover), San Francisco’s H&L Partners and Energy BBDO.
Eddie Austin also returned to his role as VP/media planning for Kia earlier this month. He left Innocean last summer after more than four years to become SVP and managing partner at WPP’s Garage Team Mazda. He lasted 10 months in that role, and it’s not clear at this time why Austin, who held similar positions at TBWA\Chiat\Day, Grey and The Martin Agency, didn’t stay with Garage Team. We hear that Austin’s return preceded the retirement of Cynthia Jensen, the agency’s SVP of media operations–and that another senior staffer may soon be assuming her role.
In an interview with TheNextGag earlier this month, Springer discussed why he joined Innocean and implied that he plans to both reshape its creative department and expand its client roster beyond Hyundai:
“After meeting with the team, I knew I had found like-minded partners who are ready to take this agency to the next level. We are indeed growing the agency and will be announcing new client partners soon. We’re on the verge of a whole new chapter in the agency’s coffee table book — one where creativity reigns supreme.”
The agency currently lists several open positions on LinkedIn, though many are in accounts and production.