Rapier's Fraser to depart

The executive creative director resigns following disagreement over restructure.

Andrew Fraser, the executive creative director at Rapier, has quit the agency after just ten months.

The creative, who is leaving without a job to go to, cited a difference of opinion with Rapier's chief executive, Jonathan Stead, about a restructure of the agency that left his executive creative director role redundant.

Instead of the traditional creative structure of a planning department, an account department and a creative department, Rapier will now be based around three client hubs, each led by three managers; a client partner, a creative lead and a strategy lead.

The creative leads in each hub will be Bryn Attewell, Kevin Bratley and Nigel Webb, who are all Rapier employees. The trio will all now report to John Townshend, the creative partner.

Fraser said: "I was excited about the future but I don't really agree that the agency is moving in the right direction, so we came up with the mutually agreeable solution of me leaving. However, Jonathan and I still remain friends."

Seven of the client, creative and strategy management positions have been filled by internal candidates, and the agency is in the process of hiring an extra client partner and a lead strategist.

Stead said that the new structure had been introduced in order to allow the agency to put extra focus on its client relationships.

He added: "It will be almost like three agencies in one. We've grown by over 30 per cent in the past 12 months and are continuing to grow. It's important to ensure that we remain focused on our clients while ensuring that we empower the great people who work here and give them the opportunity to progress.

"It also ensures that we retain the strong cultural advantage of an independent agency and avoid suffering the loss of identity that many larger agencies seem to suffer."

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