AMV BBDO managing director Richard Arscott is leaving to join South African social media company Names & Faces, which produces an app giving basic info about people in an organisation or other community.
Arscott (left), who joined AMV in 2005 and became MD in 2012, is one of the pillars of what remains the UK’s biggest agency.
Among the accounts he worked on was Sainsbury’s which ended its near 40-year relationship with AMV this summer when it moved to Wieden+Kennedy. AMV is handling its forthcoming Christmas campaign.
The two events may be unrelated but AMV will be under pressure to cut costs post-Sainsbury’s. All the big holding companies, including AMV owner Omnicom, are under pressure anyway as global growth slows and clients put pressure on fees. Foreign-owned outposts in the UK are under particular pressure as the 18 per cent post-Brexit vote fall in the pounds reduces their earnings dramatically as they’re sent back to HQ.
In a C-suite world, where nobody’s quite sure whether you need an MD or not, such a position can leave you a tad exposed.
AMV CEO Ian Pearman says: “Richard has been a wonderful partner to me over the years as we’ve evolved the agency; a champion of the creative product and a pillar of strength in keeping the culture strong.”
