Nitro's N.Y. GM Set to Exit

NEW YORK Nitro has confirmed that its New York general manager Gabrielle Bradford is leaving the agency.Greg Davis, who has been evp, corporate development at Nitro here also said he is leaving to return to Publicis Groupe's The Kaplan Thaler Group as managing director of business development.Bradford, a former Ogilvy & Mather executive who worked on American Express there, is said to be a key client contact at the office, which works with Mars and ConAgra, among others.Nitro recently won most international duties on the Volvo account, pitching in conjunction with Arnold.As first reported yesterday on Adweek.com, Nitro this week finalized contract negotiations with former Deutsch New York chief creative officer Kathy Delaney to become CCO at its office here. In addition to her creative role at Deutsch, Delaney was also co-president.Nitro founder Chris Clarke has been working as creative chief at the office, which handles clients such as Mars and ConAgra.Independent Nitro, which launched in Shanghai in 2002, has been in the news recently after acquiring New York-based AKA, which works for Foot Locker, and because of its London office winning Volvo, in conjunction with Arnold. (Ironically, AKA's Park Avenue South office—into which Nitro is moving—is the former home of Deutsch.)Clarke said Bradford, who expects to leave at the end of the month, asked to leave to start a new venture. "We're dear friends. This is completely amicable," he said.Bradford, who opened Nitro's New York office in her apartment six years ago, has known fellow Australian Clarke for ten years and ran the Mars business for him in that country at his previous agency there, Pure Creative. "I feel very proud of what we accomplished over the past three years and have nothing but good things to say about the incredible team at Nitro," she said.Delaney, a 13-year veteran of the agency, left Interpublic Group's Deutsch in November to pursue "other interests." The move came after Deutsch, known for the long tenure of its top executives, suffered a series of large account losses beginning in 2004 and continuing through much of 2005. She is best known for her creative work on Ikea, Revlon, Starwood and Snapple.Before Deutsch, Delaney, 43, worked as an associate creative director at Omnicom Group's TBWA\Chiat\Day in New York. Before that, she was in the creative department at now-defunct Bozell. By 2001, Delaney was a managing partner and executive creative director at Deutsch. In 2005, she was named chief creative of the New York office and assumed a co-president's title.Nitro had about 35 employees before the AKA acquisition that adds another 70 people. (Among them are AKA founders Arie Kovant and Stan Schwarz.)The 38-year-old Clarke, a native of Australia, is in the midst of revving up his New York operations. In an Adweek interview last month, he said he was about to hire a creative heavyweight as well as acquire a digital shop. This story updates and replaces an earlier item with confirmation of Bradford's departure. It also correctly notes that Deutsch's major losses continued through 2005, not 2006.

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Nitro's N.Y. GM Set to Exit

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