An Old Wieden + Kennedy Ally Is Now Target's New Creative Chief

FlickrTodd Waterbury, a longtime creative director at Wieden & Kennedy, was just named senior VP-creative at Target, according to Ad Age. The move is an interesting one because Target fired Wieden a year ago, despite the fact that it added $4 billion in sales during the period W+K worked for the brand.

But don't think this automatically heralds a return to Target for Wieden. Waterbury will report to Jeff Jones, Target's chief marketer, who was appointed last March. Jones came from McKinney, and is known to retain favorable feelings toward the Durham, N.C., shop.

Neither W+K nor McKinney do any current work for Target. The roster currently includes Mono of Minneapolis, 72andSunny and Deutsch LA. Execs at all those agencies will be scratching their heads over how to play this chess game, now that Waterbury (the former Wieden man) will be working with the retailer's agency partners and internal creative team.

If those agencies want clues to Waterbury's tastes, they should check out this slideshow of his New York apartment -- decked out in soulless grays, blacks and whites.