Mike Wells, the art director behind Boddingtons’ award-winning
’cream of Manchester’ campaign, is quitting Bartle Bogle Hegarty to
become head of art at WCRS.
He will be joined by his creative partner, Will Barnett, who is best
known for his RSPCA campaign featuring a puppy being enticed into an
oven and recent acclaimed work with Wells for Pears Original soap.
The pair will begin as board-level creative managers at WCRS in January,
working across a range of accounts under a new system set up by the
joint creative directors, Larry Barker and Rooney Carruthers, five
months ago.
In this, three pairs of creative managers each assume control of pieces
of work - including dealing directly with clients - but do not have a
set number of creatives working under them. The other creative managers
are Nick Kidney, Kevin Stark, Andy Dibb and Richard Deane.
Barker said he was impressed by Wells’ and Barnett’s ’deft, grown-up
touch’. He added: ’We couldn’t be more pleased that they are coming to
WCRS. They have worked on some of the biggest and best accounts at
BBH.’
Wells will be the first head of art at WCRS since Barker and Carruthers
- themselves former BBH men - took over the reins at the agency three
years ago.
Apart from picking up print awards at Cannes, four golds and a British
Television Awards silver for ’cream of Manchester’, Wells has won
plaudits for a high-profile poster campaign for Sony. The ads, which
also won a Campaign Poster Awards silver, depicted different shoes, each
representing a different style of music. He has also picked up awards
for work on Levi’s, Moet et Chandon and Vigorsol.
Wells started his advertising career at Saatchi & Saatchi in 1980, where
he stayed for nine years before moving on to BBH. He teamed up with
Barnett last year.
Barnett began his career as a copywriter in 1986 with Elgie Stewart
Smith.
He joined Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO two years later where, together with
his partner, Tony McTear, he created the RSPCA ad, before moving on to
BBH in 1993.
