TBWA has boosted its planning department with the appointment of three
senior planners as the agency absorbs a clutch of account wins over the
last year.
Gavin Heron, Howard Roberts and Dale Solman join the six-strong planning
department under the leadership of the planning director, David Wright.
Heron, 33, joins from Hunt Lascaris TBWA in South Africa to work on the
Chivas Regal account and on new business. Wright said: ‘Gavin is one of
the best strategic thinkers around and has been involved with many of
the award-winning campaigns produced by Hunt Lascaris.’ While in South
Africa, Heron helped develop the strategy for Nelson Mandela’s African
National Congress Party during last year’s South African elections.
Roberts, 29, arrives from Publicis where he worked on Renault, Guinness
and Perrier. At TBWA he will work on Nissan, NBC Superchannel and
Gatorade. Wright said: ‘Howard is one of a rare breed of planners who
have a real feeling for developing car advertising.’
Solman, 31, who joined at the end of September from KHBB, will handle
InterCity East Coast, Evian and Wrangler. Wright commented: ‘Dale has a
great personality and is committed to producing great work. Her
particular strength lies in understanding and measuring consumer
response.’
Wright added that account planning had played a significant role in
TBWA’s new-business wins in the past 12 months. ‘These three hirings
demonstrate our commitment to ensuring that we strengthen our resource
further in this area.
‘TBWA is not only a great creative agency, it’s also a great planning
agency,’ Wright commented.
TBWA has won a series of new accounts this year including Jet Petrol’s
pounds 2 million business in February, Debenham’s television advertising
in April and C&J Clark International’s pounds 8 million business in
July.
