It appears that Walt Barron just couldn’t stay away from McKinney as he’s rejoined the now-Cheil-owned, Durham, NC agency after just eight months. During that time, Barron worked in NOLA as VP, strategy at a shop called Peter Mayer. Now back at McKinney, Barron has assumed the title of SVP, head of account planning.

In a statement, CCO Jonathan Cude says of Barron’s return, “It’s great to have one of McKinney’s favorite alums back home. Just about everything he’s touched has been honored by some of the industry’s top award shows. He’s a vocal proponent of account planning’s role in guiding and inspiring talked-about work that makes a difference for our clients.”

Barron spent nearly seven years at McKinney the first time around, moving up from account planner to eventually, VP, group strategy director for clients including Lenovo and Nationwide. Prior to McKinney, Barron worked as an account planner at Austin agency McGarrah Jessee.

It looks like North Carolina’s controversial Amendment One, which goes up for vote Tuesday, May 8 and is aimed at banning same-sex marriage, is provoking plenty of agency reaction in the “Old North State.” We already mentioned one Winston-Salem shop’s efforts to encourage NC residents to vote against the proposed amendment, and now The Pitch stars at Durham, NC’s McKinney are getting involved in the action by launching their own initiative called “Vote Against One.”

A few staffers including McKinney CCO Jonathan Cude and GCD Ellen Steinberg have launched the “Vote Against” campaign as part of the agency’s Ten Percent program, which encourages employees to devote 10 percent of their time on projects unrelated to client business. Anyhow, the folks involved came up with a series of printable images which reflect their view that Amendment One also “steals legal protection from children, seniors and victims of domestic violence.” You can check out credits and a few larger images after the jump to get an idea and visit the Vote Against One site if interested.

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