HHCL founder Henry to work with McCann Birmingham
Steve Henry, the former creative boss at TBWA\London and co-founder of HHCL, is set to take a non-executive creative director role at McCann Erickson Birmingham.
Henry, whose HHCL agency was behind the original 'You've been Tango'd' ads, confirmed he will take on "a part-time mentoring role" at McCann Birmingham, where he will work with the agency's new creative director, Gary Setchell.
On his new role, Henry said: "In the last few months, I’ve been taking on a variety of interesting projects, including writing a book, and working for various agencies in both the traditional and digital areas - but this one looks like it will be a lot of fun.
"As soon as I met Dean [Lovett, the agency's chief executive] and his team, I liked them all. They’re a smashing group of people, who are determined to forge new ground in integrated marketing in the future. Gary is a brilliant bloke, and I'm looking forward to working with him.”
Setchell confirmed that part of the attraction of rejoining McCann as its full-time CD was the possibility of working with Henry as a part-time mentor.
He said: "Although he will only be working with us two or three days a month, there was no way I was going to pass up the opportunity of working closely with Steve Henry.”
Henry stunned the ad industry in 2006 when he left HHCL, which he launched in 1987, to take over from Trevor Beattie as executive creative director at TBWA. But he resigned last July; the result of “creative differences” according to the London-based trade press.
It was reported that Henry thought the agency should concentrate on newer forms of advertising while TBWA's hierarchy were said to be putting more emphasis on the big idea and high-profile TV work.
The announcement about Henry quickly follows the appointment of Setchell, who - as The Drum revealed in its last issue - is returning to McCann from KLM.
Lovett said: “We were extremely disappointed when Gary left us a year ago but understood his need to hone his management skills in a smaller environment. However, we think the time is now right for him to take on a bigger challenge and become the creative director of McCann Birmingham.”