Universal has acted swiftly to find Stokes' replacement by rehiring Abba Newbery, who left the agency last year to join The Allmond Partnership as its communications strategy director.
Stokes, who joined Universal three years ago from OMD UK, replaces Craig Wills at MPG and will report to the agency's joint managing director Marie Oldham when he arrives at the agency in early September. Wills recently resigned from MPG to pursue other interests.
MPG is set to hire other senior staff following the recent arrival of Mark Craze as the managing partner. Craze will head an investment programme to boost MPG's UK agency.
Newbery starts at Universal next week and will report to the agency's head of planning, Russell Place. She is the second director to leave TAP, following its managing director, Paul Longhurst, who was made redundant in June.
Damian Blackden, the joint chief executive at Universal, said: "Abba's one of the best creative and lateral thinkers that I've ever worked with.
Those who know her will know I'm not exaggerating when I say she's definitely a one-off. I know she'll immediately start to add real value to our planning product."
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