Lisa Tomlinson has returned to join McCann Manchester as joint planning director, having previously worked as planning director at BJL.

Tomlinson joined BJL from McCann Manchester over two years ago, and has held a number of other planning roles over an eight year period at Ogilvy One in London.

She will take up the new role in early spring, working alongside joint planning director Jamie Peate, heading up the planning and insight team of nine.

Peate joined the agency as insight director following the acquisition of research agency Blue Banana.

Sue Little, chief executive of McCann Manchester, commented: “Great creative and great thinking starts with genuine insights and strong planning and we are delighted to have hired a planning director of Lisa’s calibre. This is the first time we have had a Joint Planning Director at the agency and the hiring represents our desire to take a fresh and new approach on a number of fronts. We believe Lisa’s skills and background are a perfect complement to Jamie’s experience and the combination of the two will enable us to field one of the strongest planning and insight teams outside of London.

“In 2011 we are looking to drive significant growth with both existing and new clients and one of the underpinning themes of our corporate strategy is find new and innovative ways of working and delivering solutions for clients. Planning and Insight will sit at the heart of this approach,” added Little.

Earlier this week McCann’s Manchester revealed that it was to make six creative roles redundant following the loss of Reckitt Beckinser clients Durex and Scholl.