Nick Law, chief creative officer at Publicis Groupe, is leaving the company to take up a position at Apple, chief executive Arthur Sadoun has confirmed in an email to staff.

Reports emerged late yesterday in AdAge (Monday) that Law would be joining the tech giant in an unspecified role. He will join Apple in September, Sadoun said, just 17 months after he started at Publicis.

When Law’s appointment was announced in January 2018, Sadoun said he had been courting Law – who previously spent 17 years at R/GA – for eight months.

Describing the news as "bittersweet", Sadoun wrote: "It’s ‘sweet’ news, because of course you only ever want what is best for your friends, and Nick sees this as a ‘once in a lifetime opportunity’ for him. But of course, we would have loved to have Nick with us forever."

Sadoun added that Publicis had "considerably strengthened our creative and strategic bench" during Law’s tenure.

He added: "I want to take this moment to thank Nick for all of that, and just as importantly, for bringing to the entire management team and the group creative community a vision and an ambition for modern creativity."

Mark Tutssel, executive chairman of Leo Burnett and chair of the creative board of Publicis Communications, announced his retirement in May after 34 years at Leo Burnett.

In a note to Publicis staff, Law said the group had the "right plan, right model and the right people to solve the big challenges clients are facing", but that the "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work with a brand [he'd] admired [his] whole life was too good to ignore".

Law continued: "I hope our world-class creative community has benefited from my time at Publicis. I’ll spend the next few months meeting with many of you, helping in any way I can – but confident of your future success. I’ve no doubt I’ll maintain the countless deep relationships I’ve developed at the Groupe.

"I’d like to thank the amazing executive team for your support, the peerless talent for your inspiration and our fearless leader, Arthur, for his trust."