Just six months after taking over the Infiniti global business at TBWA\Chiat\Day LA (as Global Managing Director), former TBWA\Manchester CEO Robert Harwood-Matthews has left the agency for the Executive Vice President role at PHD West, where he’ll also be Managing Director of its Los Angeles and San Francisco offices.
Yesterday we published an article requesting PHD or Chiat call us to confirm or deny this story. We didn’t mention the subject in the article, but a PHD representative did get back to us and confirmed the move.
Harwood-Matthews is the fourth prominent employee to leave Chiat in recent months. Hashem Bajwa left after 6 weeks, Al Kelly after 3 months and Julie Liss went to Hal Riney.
Though managing west coast operations is no small leap, the move calls into question TBWA’s relationship with Nissan/Infiniti. When their top player on that account moves off, can the agency hold it together? Now, losing one person does not guarantee (or imply) a client is soon to leave as well. But given the rumblings on that subject, it’s a safe question to ask.
As you know, TBWA did not respond to requests for comment.
More: “TBWA\Chiat\Day LA Promotes Dan Goldstein to Executive Director of Planning”