"It's a chance to work with some of the best brands in the world," Mr Campbell says. The creative head says he is a strong believer in online marketing, and believes that JWT will allow him to combine Internet-related marketing with traditional advertising techniques. "My focus won't only be relegated to TV," he says.

Mr Campbell, 45 years old, will join the New York office of Thompson, one of the world's largest advertising agencies, as executive vice-president and executive creative director on February 27. The post has been vacant for more than one year. "We decided last year we needed creative firepower," says Mr Bob Jeffrey, president of JWT New York. In the last year, JWT New York has won business from Sun Microsystems, KPMG and Avon Products, among others. It lost business from Pfizer.

The search for a new person to head the creative department took such a long time in part because "creatives"-the men and women whose role is to come up with the clever taglines and touching scenarios-are hard to find these days.

Says Mr Christopher O'Donnell, vice-president of recruiting at Talent Zoo, an executive search firm that services the ad industry: "There's a rush on Madison Avenue to find creative directors. They're in short supply." The issue was the subject of discussion at a major industry trade gathering last year.

A host of New York agencies are searching for creative talent that can make advertisements sing. Part of the problem is that agencies in New York recently have been overshadowed by the creative prowess of shops outside the region, such as Omnicom Group's Goodby Silverstein & Partners and Publicis' Fallon.

Regarded as one of New York's leading creative talents, Mr Campbell has a portfolio that includes such spots as the "Golden Package" commercial for FedEx. In that ad, which ran on TV for several years, FedEx employees and customers scurry about with envelopes and boxes. Nobody knows which package is the golden package, a voice-over explains, "so every package will be treated as if it were."

At BBDO, Mr Campbell also made TV ads for Visa and PepsiCo, and was a part of the team behind the "Donald and Ivana" Stuffed Crust Pizza campaign for Tricon Global Restaurant's Pizza Hut, and the "Laundromat" spot for Frito-Lay's Doritos featuring actress Ms Ali Landry. In the commercial, Ms Landry does acrobatic flips and catches a Dorito in her mouth. "Mike has demonstrated that he has big ideas, and we have a lot of big brands," says Mr Peter A Schweitzer, president and chief executive officer of J Walter Thompson.

Mr Campbell started as a cartoonist for the New York Daily News. He then joined BBDO New York in 1986 as an art director on the Apple computer business. He was soon afterwards elected a vice-president and promoted to senior creative director in 1994. In 1999, Mr Campbell became a founding partner in @tmosphere, BBDO's online branding agency, before later rejoining BBDO New York.

The Wall Street Journal