Sources close to the hip confirm that Brian McDermott, who was appointed as chief creative officer of Dentsu America last June, is leaving the agency. We haven’t been given a timetable for McDermott’s departure, but we’ve been told that the exec is moving out of the New York area. McDermott (pictured) was initially promoted to his CCO post a year ago after spending a year as managing director/ECD at McGarryBowen, which of course operates under the ever-growing Dentsu West umbrella.

Prior to his Dentsu relationship, McDermott worked as a creative director and GCD at Y&R and McCann Erickson, respectively. Spies allege that Dentsu is eyeing Paul Bernasconi, who sold his Oasis International Group to the Japan-based network over a decade ago, as McDermott’s successor. We’ve reached out to Dentsu to get some clarification on the matter. Stay tuned…

Who would’ve thunk we’d have two Dentsu items back-to-back in one day, but before you release the hounds, let us tell you that the agency’s U.S. network has a new chief creative officer in Brian McDermott, who, conveniently enough, happened to serve as MD/ECD at Dentsu-owned McGarryBowen. During his time at McGB, McDermott worked on accounts including Chase, Marriott and Sharp and prior to joining said agency, he worked at familiar agencies including BBDO, McCann Erickson and Y&R. Now as CCO, McDermott will take on accounts including that of an aforementioned automaker from Japan.

As a side note, we’ve been told by those who know that McDermott was also a guitarist in McCann NY’s Advertising-Week-Battle-of- the Band-winning band, “More F**king Cowbell”.