Close-Up: Why Nikki Crumpton left Fallon to join McCann.(McCann Erickson-London; Fallon London)(Interview)

What tempted a Fallon veteran of eight years to move to a shop with a lesser creative reputation? James Hamilton finds out.

Excited and nervous probably best describes how Nikki Crumpton must feel as she eyes her imminent move to McCann Erickson London as the agency's new executive planning director.

In an industry used to raising eyebrows at career moves, Crumpton's was particularly surprising. She was Fallon's first employee. Despite approaches by headhunters in her eight years at the agency, she says she never went for one job interview until she got the call about McCann. McCann couldn't be a more different culture, and its creative output isn't in the same league as Fallon's. What could have persuaded her to go?

Cynics might suggest it was down to the number of noughts on the contract. Crumpton disagrees - for her, the decision was about moving out of a comfortable place and looking for a new challenge. 'There's a misconception about what McCann does,' she says. 'I wasn't expecting to see the quality of work I saw. I wouldn't have gone there if I didn't think the ambition to create great work was there.'

Besides, she says, you don't go to another agency like Fallon. 'You have to look for new opportunities. Emotionally, it floored me. I was resigning to five people I'd worked with for eight years. Laurence (Green) was my mentor, not just someone I worked for.' She says she passed up the traditional Fallon leaving do because she would have blubbed and ruined it.

Those ties go both ways. Green describes her as 'a nurturer, ...