Creative heads leave Razorfish

Creative director Mike Bennett and head of interactive TV Sabine Stanford have left Razorfish less than a year after they joined. The consultancy is now looking for a replacement to fill its top creative slot.

Both Bennett and Stanford were taken on board when Web design house Razorfish acquired interactive TV consultancy Sunbather in October 1998. Bennett, the former managing director and creative director of Sunbather, brokered the deal with the Omincom-owned Web design group.

Razorfish managing director Mike Beeston says the departure was amicable. “Mike is a great creative director. But sometimes two outlooks are not compatible and you are forced to take a decision based on the future direction of the business. We have come to an amicable agreement,” he says.

Beeston is talking with possible replacements, but says the post will not be thrown open to the market. “There are a small number of people that we are talking with and we hope to appoint somebody within a few weeks,” he adds.

Bennett and Stanford are bound by a non-disclosure agreement not to discuss their departure. They are considering future options and say they will probably do something different.

“It’s all open at the moment. We might possibly start up our own business, though we are also being wooed by a number of people. Creative opportunities are emerging that are not simply about servicing,” says Bennett. Stanford adds, “We definitely want to focus on content and creative work for new media and broadcast platforms.”

US-based Razorfish effectively entered the UK when it acquired UK Web consultancy CHBi last May to become CHBi Razorfish. It changed its name back to Razorfish at the start of this year.

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