That didn’t last long.
Just over four months after his promotion to ECD as a member of Goodby Silverstein & Partners’ new creative leadership team, Eric Kallman will leave the agency. He is not leaving for another full-time creative position.
According to the press release, the writer behind “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” will “pursue other outside creative interests” while maintaining his relationship with GS&P.
In his own words: “Moving forward, I’ll be freelancing at Goodby and probably other agencies as well.”
In the May Adweek feature, GS&P positioned Kallman (who previously worked at Wieden+Kennedy, TBWA\Chiat\Day and BFG 9000) and 18-year vet/partner and ECD Margaret Johnson as its new creative figureheads. Rich Silverstein said, “Margaret, Eric and Paul [Caiozzo] are the next generation of creative leaders for the agency,” with Goodby adding, “Margaret and Eric are now the ones with ultimate responsibility for the work on each of our accounts. They have brought a renewed life and energy to everything we do.”
The new mix wasn’t quite as good a match as hoped, though. Sources claim that Kallman wanted to work on a wider range of accounts and that relationships with certain clients were touchy. (The release credits him with working on Comcast, Foster Farms, got milk?, and Sonic Drive-Ins.)
All involved parties played down any perceived conflict behind the move, with Goodby writing, “This is all happening very amicably…Eric is a monster talent and a very sweet guy to have around. I wouldn’t be surprised if we freelanced him in the very near future.”
Kallman’s statement indicates that he will indeed be working with GS&P again soon, though he didn’t give us any details and he has no specific plans at the moment.
In his absence, Johnson will be the de facto leader of GS&P’s creative department. The agency does not plan to replace its departing ECD.