Rutherford was at the Japanese car marque for two years, but has left to specialise in social media, helping brands utilise blogs, forums and social networking sites. He has been replaced by Sara Lawler, who was previously Toyota's head of dealer marketing.
Rutherford will head the agency, but is looking to recruit account managers and analysts for an initial staff of six, in a bid to compete against other social networking agencies such as We Are Social.
Social media budgets are expected to increase this year, with a third of advertisers planning to plough 6% to 20% of their digital marketing budgets on social media, according to a new report by the Internet Advertising Bureau.
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