-By Brian Morrissey

NEW YORK TM Advertising chief innovation officer James Hering has left the shop to join independent The Richards Group.
 
Hering, 45, will lead new business efforts at Click Here, the digital unit of Richards. He spent 18 years at IPG's TM in Dallas, where he led its online marketing, digital content and eCRM efforts. As chief innovation officer, Hering led a 60-person practice.
 
Pete Lerma, principal of Dallas-based Click Here, said he long admired Hering as a competitor and jumped at the chance to lure him by creating the new position of director of new business.
 
"We've talked about working together for years," he said. "We had a healthy respect for each other. We always thought it would be cool to work together. He built something over there I had a lot of respect for."
 
Click Here was formed in 1995 as Richards' interactive practice. Like other shops' digital arms, Click Here has both its own clients as well as shared engagements. About 40 percent of its business is as an interactive standalone shop, Lerma said. Interactive-only clients include Travelocity and TiVo. It also handles digital duties for Richards' clients Patron, Amstel and Fruit of the Loom.
 
Hering said he was attracted by the challenge of raising the profile of Click Here, which has 96 employees.
 
"It's building this brand and telling an untold story of a digital practice in Dallas that has talented people doing great work," he said. "They haven't focused on telling that story."