After more than five years as agency president and partner, Harvey Carroll has left Grip Limited.
“I have decided to move on from Grip Limited,” Carroll told Marketing in an email. “It was a tough decision but the right decision for me. I am looking forward to the next chapter but planning to take a little time off before I make any other big decisions. After 5.5 years of the fast paced agency life I feel like I could use a bit of a rest.”
Carroll joined Grip in 2008 as the agency’s first-ever president, marking a change in the agency’s founding philosophy in which a group of equal partners eschewed hierarchical titles.
Grip will now return to that founding model, according to Grip partner Randy Stein. Moving forward, Grip’s nine partners will steer the agency.
“We’ll be returning to our partner-led model – which is what the agency was founded on,” said Stein. “Our eight creative partners were all creative directors prior to joining Grip and Bob Shanks was a former agency president [at Lowe Roche] – so the partner group is well equipped to lead the agency.”
Prior to joining Grip Carroll was vice-president of marketing for Labatt Breweries of Canada, a Grip client that helped build the agency. Before that he worked in various marketing positions for Kraft and General Foods.
The announcement comes at the end of a year which saw Grip win two gold Lions at the 60th annual Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity for its work on Kokanee’s The Movie Out Here. Last month it also launched a Taco Bell campaign and according to Stein it is also in talks to produce a branded TV show.
Carroll’s exit follows that of Grip creative partner Jon Finkelstein who left the agency last winter to join Proximity Canada as executive creative director.
