Hytner rejects top US Lintas role and quits

Richard Hytner, chief executive of Ammirati & Puris/ Lintas London, is leaving the agency after turning down a job on the A&P/L board in New York.

Hytner has no job to go to but says he wishes to remain in the UK advertising business. He strongly dismisses persistent speculation that he is moving to take on the managing director role at Bates Dorland where his former colleague Paul Twivy is group chief executive officer.

His departure comes three months after SP Lintas was renamed A&P/L following its merger with Lintas i, the company formed when SP Lintas bought Rover agency KMM in May.

The management was then restructured with the appointment of Andrew Cracknell as deputy chairman and executive creative director above Hytner in the management hierarchy.

Hytner has been with the agency for eight years, joining its forerunner Still Price Court Twivy D’Sousa as an account director.

He became head of business management in 1988 before taking on the role of deputy managing director of Still Price Lintas, the agency formed by the merger with Lintas. He became managing director in 1991 and stepped up to ceo in December 1993.

“It was a tremendous offer but there are lots of compelling reasons not to go,” says Hytner.