Troubleshooter role for creative Miguel

Outgoing Coley Porter Bell creative head Allison Miguel plans to operate as a “creative troubleshooter” when she leaves the consultancy. As an independent consultant she plans to help design groups to realise creative potential.

Miguel, whose resignation after five years at CPB was announced last week (DW 12 April), says she is looking for a new challenge rather than “a less stressful life” – the reason given by CPB chief executive Amanda Connolly for her resignation.

She plans to work within consultancies for anything from a week to six months to help them to evolve a “design philosophy”.

The agenda will go beyond the design studio, she says, looking at areas such as the client base, how to take a brief and presentation as a means of getting the best out of a job.

“It’s about helping to nurture the talent that’s there to make it work better [for the consultancy],” she says, describing her role as “empathetic” with the creative director’s.

“But it will need board-level commitment to achieve it. A lot of consultants are being brought in to look at the books, but no one is doing it from a creative perspective,” she says.

“I’ve spent at least three years at CPB concentrating on processes to get better creative results. A lot of design consultancies have lost direction, when their offers used to be well differentiated,” Miguel adds.

She cites Lewis Moberly and her two former employers, the old Michael Peters Group and Wickens Tutt Southgate (now Brandhouse WTS), as examples of consultancies where creativity was the differentiating factor.

Miguel is contracted to give three months’ notice and a date has yet to be agreed with Connolly for her departure from CPB.