Tory Myhren, global CCO of Grey and president of its New York office – and, arguably, the world’s highest profile agency creative – is leaving to become vice president of marketing communications at Apple.
Myhren (below) says: “My eight years at Grey aren’t just the best years of my career, they’ve been the best years of my life. I have treasured every single minute of working side by side with my mentor and friend Jim Heekin (Grey global CEO). There are no words to express how proud I am of what we built together.”
Apple these days is the ultimate money making machine and seems to be able to hook anyone it wants. Angela Ahrendts, credited with turning Burberry into a leading global fashion brand, joined Apple as retail head in 2014. She received a ‘golden hello’ of $68m and $83m in pay in her first year. We don’t know what Myhren’s welcome package includes but it will probably pay for a nice house and a vineyard or two on the West Coast.
Apple’s advertising has been handled by TBWA for decades, with a growing input from in-house resources. Myhren will become its chief client although it wouldn’t be a surprise if the in-house contribution rose substantially.
Grey CEO Heekin says: “After a spectacular run at Grey, Tor wants to try his hand on the client side for this iconic tech company that has changed our culture and how we communicate.
“As the head of the Grey Global Creative Council, Tor has made a monumental contribution to our success, enhancing our creative product, talent and profile around the world. Today, we have a deep bench of accomplished creative leaders in place across the world to fuel our continued momentum.”
No doubt he has but Myhren’s departure is a poser for the WPP-owned agency, the group’s standout performer alongside Ogilvy, which is itself looking for a CEO to replace Miles Young who’s leaving for academia. It’s hardly the Christmas present WPP boss Sir Martin Sorrell wanted to receive. Grey London lost its highly-rated CEO Chris Hirst to Havas earlier this year. Current Grey London chairman and CCO Nils Leonard may be a contender for the role of Grey global CCO.
Can you imagine how much money he is going to make? Even if the Poisoned Dwarf flogged the Gramercy Park Love Nest and gave him the proceeds in a TBE, he couldn’t match all those loverrrrly iDollars. Lucky bugger!