Close-up: Newsmaker - 'He's the greatest DM creative of this generation'.(Steve Harrison employee of Ogilvy)

Steve Harrison's absence will be sorely felt following his decision to part company with Wunderman. Kate Nettleton reports.

The feelings towards Steve Harrison from those inside the industry are mixed. You either love him, hate him or suffer an infuriating mixture of both emotions, according to many of his former colleagues.

And his fellow jurors at Cannes last year will agree. They witnessed Harrison's passion for seeking out creative ideas when he, as the chairman of the Direct Jury, repeatedly knocked on the door of the Promo Jury, judging next door, telling them to keep their deliberations down.

However, the creative's reputation as 'the velvet fist in an iron glove' shone through. When one burly Promo juror threatened to strip him naked and throw him out if he continued to complain, Harrison duly ceased his protestations.

This episode perfectly encapsulates Harrison, whose principled attitude and constant desire for perfection have made him a pre-eminent member of the direct marketing industry. He spent part of his career as a teacher, has a PhD behind him, and is considered by some to be one of the biggest brains in the business.

His industry career plays out like the classic postboy-turns-adman story. The young Harrison started out in the mid-80s at Ogilvy as an information manager. Within a year of mentioning that he fancied making it as a copywriter to Drayton Bird, the chairman of Ogilvy Direct London, he had risen to the role of head of copy.

Bird's decision to take him under his wing paid off; Harrison quickly established himself as a remarkable and brilliant talent, taking the role of creative director when Pam Craik and Chris Jones, the joint creative directors, left Ogilvy in 1990 to form Craik Jones.