Digby Richards exits Bates 141

Richards will be returning to his native Australia in August, where he is expected to take up what he describes as “an entrepreneurial role” within the advertising industry.

Richard joined what was then BatesAsia 141 in 2006, three years after the agency was acquired by WPP and progressively merged with creative shop David. Richards had previously worked as regional CEO at David.

According to Bates 141’s Asia-Pacific chairman Jeffrey Yu, it was agreed before Richards joined the agency that he would eventually move on.

“When Digby joined us, we had the benefit of having him help the integration of the two agencies,” explained Yu. “Digby has contributed tremendously to Bates 141 and is the ultimate change agent. Since Digby joined our group in 2006, he has fully embraced the Bates 141 culture and added on a new level of energy and commitment.”

According to statement from the agency, the existing management team will form a new managing partner structure to work with executive chairman Jeffrey Yu. Specifically this means that Sonal Dabral will become managing partner for India and head of creative for Asia, Frederique Covington will step up as managing partner for SEA and head of strategy for Asia, David Meredith will become managing partner of talent and culture for Asia and Adrian Huen managing partner of commercial and finance for Asia.

Richards departure raises questions regarding Bates 141’s future direction. Having lost Nokia and Heineken in 2009, the agency last year focused on building its agency brand and core talent.

“It is business as usual,” added Yu. “We have in place a dynamic team that will be responsible for taking Bates 141 forward. This is a team whom we have honed over the past years and empowered to step up into their new roles. I look forward to working with our new managing partners and country heads to take Bates 141 up to our next phase of growth as a leading Asia network.”

Richards’ exit is the second high-level departure within the WPP network this year. In April, it was announced that Matthew Godfrey was named regional CEO of Y&R following the abrupt departure of his predecessor Ambar Brahmachary.