McCann takes axe to creative department

McCann-Erickson has made at least four creative teams redundant, including those responsible for the controversial Sega push two years ago.

In a separate move, one of the agency’s group account directors, Ros King, has resigned to join J Walter Thompson to handle the 51m Kellogg account.

King has run the Nestlé business at McCann for several years and her move is believed to have angered the food company. Nestlé has a 50 per cent stake in Kellogg’s main rival, Cereal Partners. “Cereal Partners is McCann’s biggest client and both it and Nestlé would be concerned at her departure to work on a rival’s account,” says one McCann source.

The redundancies, including Dick Dunford and Andy McGuinness (who created the Sega “death race” campaign), and Peter West and Eric Beaton, is being described as a streamlining of the creative division.