Michel quits Cheethambell JWT to join Bielinska in planning startup
Katrina Michel, chairman and head of account planning at Cheetham Bell/JWT, has quit the agency to join a company started by former BDH\\TBWA head of planning, Liz Bielinska.
Michel leaves the agency at the end of June, when she will join Planning Express, an external account planning and brand planning consultancy.
Planning Express was set up by Bielinska in 2005 when she returned from working in the US. While stateside, she worked at Omnicom’s MartinWilliams Advertising in Minneapolis working with clients such as Target, LL Bean and E*Trade. Having started her career at BDH Advertising in Manchester, she returned to that agency in February 2006 as a board director and head of account planning. She left in January 2007.
Michel has a career in planning spanning London and Manchester, having been both head of planning and new business director at Publicis and Ogilvy. Most recently she’s been with Cheetham BellJWT.
Planning Express will offer brand positioning advice, consumer research advice, help on training, idea generation and pitch management and strategy.
“We’re so excited,” Bielinska told The Drum. “We feel we’re at the forefront of a wave. The days of all agencies being able to afford their own planning departments are over. The idea with Planning Express was always to expand it. When there’s just one of you, you’re a freelancer. Katrina has a phenomenal reputation. I wanted to offer clients the very best planning brains and they don’t come much better than Katrina.”
Michel will become an equal partner in Planning Express when she joins the company in July.