Today we learned, via Doner President/co-CEO David DeMuth, that the agency has lost its second executive creative director in less than a month. Following the January departure of EVP/ECD Justin Smith from the agency’s Detroit office, Rob Palmer will be leaving Doner’s LA office after 18 months.
Before joining Doner September 2013, Palmer held CD roles at some of the industry’s biggest shops, including BBDO, Wieden+Kennedy, TBWA/Chiat/Day GS&P, and Razorfish. Palmer joined the latter agency in Summer 2010 and seems to have spent much of his time there working remotely from “his home turf in Boise.”
Palmer’s own portfolio site offers an amusing summary of his career in the form of snippets like “smoked a cigar with tony danza,” “worked for clow,” “partied with johnny knoxville and paris hilton,” and “heard about the world wide web.”
Here’s the statement from DeMuth:
“Rob has accepted an offer with a fast-growing company that Doner LA has done some project work with over the last few months. It’s an exceptional opportunity for Rob and we’re excited for him. We’re also excited to announce Rob’s replacement, which we anticipate doing very soon.”
What might that fast-growing company be? It’s almost certainly not JC Penney.
Expect more Doner news to come.