It didn’t take too long for Wieden Kennedy New York to find a replacement for Neal Arthur, who as we know was promoted to managing director of the agency’s Big Apple office a couple of weeks ago. W+K announced that Stuart Smith will now assume the head of planning post, effective immediately.
Though he’s spent the last two years toiling in the Google Creative Lab as director of planning, Smith is no stranger to the Wieden camp, having served as head of planning for W+K London from 2003 to 2008. During his time there as lead planner, Smith was part of the management team that helped the agency grow from 25 to 160 people and win awards like the Cannes Grand Prix and Cannes Titanium for Honda in 2005. Smith seems pretty enthused about his new post, stating “…such is my excitement about the [New York office’s] potential that, when no one’s looking, I’m high-fiving an imaginary Dan Wieden.” Aren’t we all?
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