The resignation of McConnells managing director Fiona Scott was entirely voluntary and had been planned for some months, agency director Stuart Fogarty has told marketing.ie. Fogarty was reacting to a story in the Sunday Tribune yesterday which suggested Scott’s departure may have been linked to McConnells being taken off the 02 creative roster.
“That’s not the case,” Fogarty said. “We had known at least three months ago that Fiona Scott had intended to take time out. It was off her own bat to leave and what’s more her departure was totally amicable,” he added. He pointed out that she had spent over 25 years with McConnells, most of which were in senior media positions.
Fogarty denied the €13 million 02 spend figure mentioned in the Tribune report, which he said was hugely inflated. The lion’s share of the account is on media which is handled by Mediavest and creative outlay with McConnells in recent months was no more than €500,000.
On the departure of Patrick Meade, the account director on the 02 account, Fogarty said again it was his decision to leave McConnells and the reason he did so was to pursue other business interests. Meade joined McConnells from Rothco, which, coincidentally, is on the 02 creative roster, along with London agency VCCP.
