Jimmy Murphy, chief growth officer with Publicis Dublin is to leave the agency to join the Deloitte-owned ACNE Dublin as business director, working alongside creative director Dylan Cotter to grow the business in Ireland.
Murphy is one of the advertising industry’s best-known and well-liked figures. A former president of IAPI, he started out working in media with Ogilvy back in 1993. Over the next 28 years he would go on to work with Arks for four years and Cawley Nea\ TBWA for six years before founding his own agency The Hive in 2006. The Hive was later acquired by Publicis Dublin in 2011 and as its business director and chief growth officer, Murphy has since helped grow the agency substantially over the last ten years.
“I’ve loved my time in Publicis, an agency where I have built great friendships with some really amazing and talented people on both the agency and client sides,” says Murphy.
“Having reflected on 10 years with the agency in a variety of roles, I feel now is the right time for me to pursue a new challenge and opportunity. When I approached the board and team about it, their support, understanding, and friendship was, and is, greatly appreciated by me,” he says.
Murphy’s replacement at Publicis Dublin is Sinead Dennis who will join the agency at the beginning of March 2022.
Speaking about Murphy’s departure, managing director of Publicis Dublin Geraldine Jones says: “Jimmy has been a valued colleague and friend of our agency for many years, and I know I speak for the entire team at Publicis Dublin when I say we will miss him. When Jimmy spoke with us about his desire to focus on a new challenge outside of Publicis, we were naturally disappointed, but we wish Jimmy well in his new role. Jimmy has always been a great professional and will continue to work with us in the coming months to ensure there is a smooth transition as he leaves Publicis.”
The Deloitte-owned ACNE entered the Irish market in 2019. The move to expand its range of consultancy services came after its acquisition of the Swedish creative shop ACNE in August 2017. In early 2020, it announced that the former executive creative director of BBDO Dublin, Dylan Cotter, was joining its Irish operations as executive creative director.
Founded in 1996, and headquartered in Stockholm, some of Acne’s clients include the likes of IKEA, Volvo, Luis Vuitton, H&M, Spotify, Max, Telenor and Instagram. The agency offers a range of creative, digital, strategic, film and digital services for clients. The agency employs over 200 staff in offices in Dublin, London, Stockholm, Toyko, Berlin and Paris.
