New management line-up

krow London has installed a new management line-up, promoting the former Deputy ECD Annie Fox to ECD and ex-Planning Director Matt Watts to Group Head of Planning.

The move also sees Aileen Ross, the agency’s multi-award winning Planning Director – who has been the lead planner on the DFS business for eight years – promoted to Group Head of Strategy, and Darryl George – who was previously Creative Director – promoted to Deputy ECD. They all join John Quarrey, Group CEO and co-founder, on the top team.

Meanwhile, Malcolm White, CSO and co-founder, is leaving the agency to complete his PhD. Nick Hastings, co-founder and ECD, has retired from krow to take on personal projects, while co-founder Barry Cook is staying on in a part-time advisory role.

Aileen Ross, Group Head of Strategy, said: “I’m very proud to step up alongside the rest of the team to play a key role in shaping krow’s future. I have an active passion for new ways of doing things, and it’s great to be able to put this into practice with a group of people I already know and admire.”

Annie Fox has been Deputy ECD at krow for the past year, having joined from Digitas, where she was Creative Director, working on campaigns for brands such as Ferrero Kinder Surprise, Wilko and the Fiat Chrysler Group. She has created award-winning work for brands including MINI, Wickes, Kellogg’s, KFC, Britvic, Superdry, Samsung and BBC Worldwide.

Matt has been Planning Director at krow since 2014, He successfully led the planning on a wide variety of commercial and political accounts, from the Labour 2017 General Election campaign, Virgin Trains and Toolstation to Unison. Prior to joining krow, Matt worked on clients such as McDonald’ss, Kellogg’s and Homebase – where he worked on the ‘make your house your home’ campaign, which successfully elevated the brand.

All four report to John Quarrey, who comments: “The fact that the next generation of leaders at krow is entirely home grown makes us extremely proud. The original co-founders have left a great legacy and this exceptionally talented new team will now drive this iteration of the agency forward into a new era.”

krow, which was acquired by The MISSION Group in 2018, merged with bigdog last year to form a creative powerhouse and full-service proposition for brands including DFS, Fiat Chrysler Group, Ferrero, Sky Vegas, Pret A Manger, Barclays and Aviva.