Ewan Paterson is leaving MullenLowe Group UK for personal reasons.
The Interpublic agency appointed Paterson as its first group chief creative officer in November 2020, completing its management line-up. He joined the shop, which works with clients including Unilever and the government, in March 2021.
Paterson said: "I am lucky enough to have made some great friends here and am very sad to have to leave so soon. We've made lots of headway and we have lots in the pipeline but the truth is, at the moment, I just can't make myself available enough to realise those ambitions and the agency deserves more."
He will leave the agency in spring 2022 and will assist group chief executive Jeremy Hine and group chief strategy officer Ayesha Walawalkar in their search for his successor. Paterson is not looking for a new role and plans to focus on his family for the foreseeable future.
Hine said: "We knew Ewan was a star player as soon as we met him. He has delivered a huge amount during his time with us and made a real step change to our creative output. He has made a decision for personal reasons and whist we are all terribly sorry to see him go, we fully understand and support his decision."
Paterson's appointment had allowed global chief creative officer Jose Miguel Sokoloff to focus on his worldwide responsibilities – the latter had been overseeing the UK since 2017 following the departure of Dave Henderson.
Prior to MullenLowe Group, Paterson worked at Bartle Bogle Hegarty, where he co-founded BBH Sport and served as its executive creative director and oversaw work including Samsung's "School of rugby" starring Jack Whitehall.
Paterson was chief creative officer at DDB Chicago for three years from 2011 before returning to the UK to launch BBH Sport in 2014. He was executive creative director at CHI & Partners (now known as The & Partnership) between 2006 and 2010.
In September Laurence Green, the last founder of 101, the agency MullenLowe bought in 2017, also left the business.
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