It has already been agreed that Nick Howarth, managing director of HHCL & Partners, will replace the current Red Cell group chairman Simon Burridge and it looks as if there was no place in the new management line-up for Kerr.
The 拢5m sale of HHCL & Partners to WPP was confirmed in September. While the agency has impeccable creative credentials, it has been through some troubled times, losing clients such as Tango and Egg, the online bank. Added to that are the problems of its parent company Chime, headed by Lord Bell, which saw its share price collapse last November after warning of difficult times ahead.
Red Cell's London office is relatively small, boasting 20 staff and clients including Fiat and Singapore Airlines. HHCL & Partners has around 140 staff, and its client list includes brands such as Pot Noodle, Littlewoods, the supermarket chain Iceland and Birds Eye Wall's frozen foods.
The London office of Red Cell network has already culled senior management of its London office before in late 2001 in what was then seen as a "deck-clearing" operation in advance of an impending acquisition.
At the time, the casualties included Julian Saunders, who was asked to step down as chief executive to become European strategic planning director; John Trainor, the creative director; Simon Frank, the executive creative director; and Michelle Katz, the new-business director. Four others were axed.
WPP chief executive Sir Martin Sorrell has long sought a creative hot-shop in London to slot in to the Red Cell network, which is seen as the fourth-string, more niche offering from WPP.
Berlin Cameron/Red Cell, the US office of the Red Cell network, recently scored a coup by creating a new series of high-profile ads for Coca-Cola, featuring celebrities such as Courtney Cox and Penelope Cruz, in spite of the fact that Coke's roster ad agency is McCann-Erickson, part of the Interpublic Group of Companies.
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