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Ammirati Puris Lintas has promoted Alison Hardy and Matthew

Lonsdale to be joint planning directors, filling the vacancy left by

Nicky Buss who quit in March.

The pair will report directly to the agency’s chief executive, Chris

Thomas. He said: ’We had no intention of necessarily making a joint

appointment or indeed an internal one. But Alison and Matthew approached

us as a team and offered a new vision for planning within the agency and

a number of reasons why this would be better implemented by two people

acting together rather than any one individual.’

The pair intend to redefine the role of planning in keeping with the

creative overhaul instituted by the arrival of chief creative officer,

Steve Raboski, last November.

Lonsdale said: ’The fundamental function of planning is to improve the

creative. So following Steve’s appointment, with his different style,

APL’s planning needs to adapt. It needs to understand his vision and

requirements.’

Hardy has worked at Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, BDDH and Kirshenbaum Bond

& Partners in New York. She joined APL from Leagas Shafron Davis, where

she was head of planning, in March 1998. At APL she has been responsible

for the Johnson & Johnson, Nestle and Greiter accounts.

Lonsdale joined APL from McCann-Erickson in April 1997. At APL he has

been responsible for the Domestos, Sure, Rover and Parcelforce Worldwide

accounts.

Buss, the agency’s former head of planning of three years, quit to join

McKinsey & Company in Chicago. She moved to join her husband who took a

Chicago-based job last summer.

Thomas said: ’Alison and Matthew complement each other perfectly. They

are both great planners and have a shared vision for the future of

strategic planning within the agency. But their approaches and styles

are different and will make the best of an eclectic and talented

department.’