Advertising, ad campaigns, ad agencies, and the people that make it happen

Something nasty seems to have happened very quickly at Y&R, New York last week. Chris Jaques is leaving Y&R after four months as CEO of its North American operations for "personal reasons," the agency said today.  Wow, I don’t know what kind of personal reasons could persuade you to bale out after only four months, but Y&R does have a somewhat unfortunate history with senior executives who don’t fit the notorious Y&R “Boy’s Club.” Apparently, Global CEO Hamish McLennan will take over Jaques' duties until a permanent successor is named. Last September, Jaques succeeded 17-year agency veteran Gord McLean as North American CEO. McLean had held that post for 18 months before shifting to global managing partner, a new position at the shop. Jaques, who had previously been chief executive of Y&R's operations in Asia, relocated to New York in October. Hopefully Y&R paid for the move, but having had prior experience with these folks, I hope Mr. Jaques has his money in a numbered account under the sidewalks of Zurich. Loved the bit in the news at AdWeek… At the time of Jaques' promotion, McLennan commended Jaques for his skill "at building teams, winning new business and delivering breakthrough creative work." Yeah, well he didn’t get to do too much of that in his brief tenure, I wouldn’t think.

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I wonder if Noel Coward ever worked at Y&R?