Ben Langdon has marked the start of his plan to push McCann-Erickson
back into the agency top five by hiring three senior people.
The appointments are the first to be made by Langdon since he rejoined
the agency as managing director from Collett Dickenson Pearce earlier
this year.
Amy Smith, the new-business director at Simons Palmer Clemmow Johnson,
joins as marketing director. She replaces David Longman who split with
McCanns after a ‘clash of personality and styles’ with Langdon
(Campaign, last week).
Langdon has renewed his professional links with Neil Bannister, the
former CDP creative director (integrated), who takes over as a creative
director with responsibility for developing McCanns’ integrated
accounts.
Bannister, who left CDP at the beginning of the month after Adrian
Kemsley’s arrival as executive creative director, will also assist
Stuart Cooper, McCanns’ deputy creative director, on other accounts.
Quentin Boys, the former deputy head of Interfocus, the Lowe Group
integrated agency, completes the trio. ‘His appointment is a symbol of
my commitment to provide McCanns clients with specialism and expertise
in areas other than advertising,’ Langdon said.
Langdon added that all three were integral to his plans for
restructuring the agency, which he is due to present to the McCanns
worldwide boss, John Dooner, next Wednesday.
‘Before the end of this year I will have announced a series of measures
designed to put McCanns back on the map in terms of our creative,
strategic and communications product in the UK,’ he said.
Smith, an Australian, join-ed Simons Palmer in August 1994 from Telecom
Australia where she was business-to business sales director. At that
time she worked extensively with McCanns, the corporation’s main
Australasian agency.
