Wieden & Kennedy axes UK chief

Wieden & Kennedy has axed UK managing director Hugh Derrick after less than a year in the role.

He joined W&K last July from Abbott Mead Vickers.BBDO, where he was a board account director on Volvo and Guinness. He does not have a job to go to.

Derrick’s exit is the latest in a long line of senior departures from the agency since it opened in London two years ago.

Mike Perry, Derrick’s predecessor, quit six months after launch, followed by joint creative directors Nick Gill and Susan Hoffman, and planning director Alison Toad last year. New creative director Adam Kean left three months ago after less than six months in the job.

The agency was also prevented from pitching for new business in its first six months on the insistence of its main international client Nike.

It has only won two significant accounts since then, the &£2m Cartoon Network business and the &£5m Virgin Interactive brief, although it has often been shortlisted.

Derrick was previously at Goodby Silverstein & Partners in San Francisco. He was unavailable for comment as Marketing Week went to press.

Planning director John Shaw and head of account management Danielle Crooke will run the agency in the meantime. W&K Portland chief operating officer Dave Luhr is leading the search for Derrick’s replacement.