Staying the Course
In an arrangement which he concedes is “unusual,” Kevin Astle will continue to represent GeneratorIdeaworks at the Association of Promotion Marketing Agencies Worldwide and sit as the association’s president – even though he is leaving the Toronto agency.
Per an agreement with parent BBDO Canada, Astle will serve as the agency’s rep to APMA “through 1999,” despite the fact that Generator and BBDO Canada have “dissolved (our) partnership,” Astle says.
BBDO announced last month it is parting ways with Astle over “significant philosophical differences” on the agency’s direction. Astle says his plan to expand GeneratorIdeaworks into Chicago and build a global brand went “beyond BBDO Canada’s mandate” and its plans for the business.
Astle told promo last month he continues to draw a salary from BBDO and that he planned to attend APMA’s April 24 to 27 conference in London. He says his only Generator-related duties going forward will be as the agency’s delegate to APMA.
“We’ve dissolved the partnership. Now we are talking about the valuation of that partnership and the level of my non-compete in the future,” he says. “I will be employed there until I formally sell my shares or decide to move to another company.”
“He is still president and a shareholder of Generator and he remains the delegate to the APMA,” says APMA executive director Vincent Sottosanti. “There would be no reason for him not to remain president unless he were no longer part of an agency.”
Astle will have to move into a situation where he remains either a partner, principal, or owner of an agency in order to continue as an APMA member. “I expect to be able to plan any transition in a way that it won’t adversely affect my role with APMA,” he says.
GeneratorIdeaworks, which Astle joined in 1990, earned four gold World PRO of Excellence Awards last year.
