Jerry Green moved as Langdon acts

McCann-Erickson chief executive Ben Langdon has hired the two creatives who devised the Gary Lineker Walkers crisps campaign in the most significant internal change he has made since joining the agency four months ago.

The recruitment of Gary Betts and Malcolm Green from Mellors Reay & Partners as executive creative directors means that Langdon has wrested control of the creative department from the existing executive creative director Jerry Green.

Green will become deputy chairman of the agency, which will involve more of an account management role. He will continue to offer creative consultancy on some accounts and will be responsible for European creative issues.

“If he has managed to move Jerry he can get on with remodelling the agency,” says one source. “If he had failed, it would have been more difficult for him to make his mark.”

Langdon’s predecessor, Mark Gault, tried to replace Green with Andrew Cracknell 18 months ago, but was prevented from doing so by influential backers of Green within the parent Interpublic Group.