The official word remains “mum,” but sources close to the matter confirm that Carl Warner, creative group head at The Richards Group, will soon leave the agency to launch his own venture.
The move will end one of Warner’s multiple stints with Richards, where he was an art director in the 80’s before serving as CD at DDB Dallas and Team One. He joined the JWT organization as a creative director in its Detroit office in 2003 before the agency moved him to Atlanta, and from 2006 to 2011 he ran that office as co-president/ECD in partnership with former GM Tony Accurso.
JWT South hired Rob Quish as its new CEO in 2010, and in late 2011 he decided to part ways with Warner in a standard internal executive “shakeup.” Warner then spent less than a year as ECD at Atlanta’s Engauge.
This won’t be the first time the CD has broken off to lead an independent operation: after leaving the aforementioned agency in the summer of 2012, he launched his own Warner venture, working for various clients before returning to Richards as creative group head in early 2013.
The Richards Group has no comment at this time on Warner’s departure, the details of which remain unclear. Sources tell us he will announce the launch of his new project later this summer.