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Gavin MacDonald, who produced the Grand Prix winner at this year's

Scottish IPA Effectiveness Awards, has joined Amsterdam's StrawberryFrog

agency as its first head of planning.

His arrival marks a fresh stage in the development of the two-year-old

shop, which works extensively with networks of freelance creatives.

MacDonald, who has one full-timer and a part-timer working with him,

will use a similar way of working to build up the agency's planning

resource.

MacDonald, 36, compared the experience to "working in a World War II

resistance cell". He said: "You have a group of people who don't know

each other but can be used for jobs as and when they come up."

StrawberryFrog's major clients include Sprint, the US-based telecoms

supplier, whose global launch is being handled by the agency, UPC, a

European cable company, and Credit Suisse.

"I was the deputy head of planning at Leith and wasn't looking for a

move but StrawberryFrog represents a new challenge," MacDonald said. "It

doesn't have lots of staff and high overheads but concentrates on

thinking fast and acting quickly."

He added: "It's refreshing and makes for simple ideas that will work as

well in Italy and Norway as the UK."

MacDonald joined BMP DDB as a planner in 1989, working across a range of

accounts including Volkswagen. He co-authored BMP's 1996 Ad

Effectiveness Awards silver award-winning paper for Walker's crisps

shortly after the introduction of the campaign featuring Gary Lineker.