Chiat’s Creative Chief in N.Y. Quits Suddenly

Chiat/Day/Mojo, the Venice agency whose New York office is already down on its luck, got another kick in the teeth Thursday. Its mercurial but highly talented East Coast creative chief abruptly left to start his own agency.

Tom McElligott, who created the current black-and-white ads for Calvin Klein’s Obsession, which feature an off-camera narrator reciting literary passages and actors from TV’s “Twin Peaks,” will become chairman of a new Minneapolis agency, McElligott Wright Morrison White.

The move is a blow to Chiat/Day, which seemed to have pulled a major coup in November, 1989, when it brought the 47-year-old McElligott on board. Ever provocative, McElligott is regarded by many as one of a handful of top creative directors in the nation. Some rank him second only to Chiat/Day’s other top creative head, Lee Clow.

The timing could hardly be worse for Chiat/Day, which has seen a recent flow of business away from its New York office. This year it has lost much of the $30-million Reebok business as well as the $20-million account for Royal Caribbean Cruise Line. Earlier this week, it also lost the $4-million Arrow shirt ad business. The agency reshuffled management in the New York office earlier this summer, including appointing a new president.

For McElligott and his partners--all of whom have worked together at one point or another--the timing would also seem to present a problem. The advertising industry is in a slowdown, and many agencies are struggling to stay above water.

“Ironically, we believe that the looming recession is a perfect environment for this agency’s birth,” McElligott said in a statement. He was en route to Minneapolis and unavailable for further comment.

The agency, which officially opens Nov. 1, has no clients. But in no time it is expected to compete head-on with Fallon McElligott, the Minneapolis agency where he was founding partner. That shop made its mark nationally in the mid-1980s by winning top awards.