Crispin Porter & Bogusky to lay off 60 staff

By Staff, brandrepublic.com, Friday, 06 February 2009 09:35AM

NEW YORK - Ad agency Crispin Porter & Bogusky, a highly successful player in the US advertising industry, has announced that it is cutting 60 jobs from its 900-plus workforce in response to the ailing economy.

The agency, which is behind Microsoft's global 'I'm a PC' campaign and has blue chip brands on its books including Burger King, Domino's Pizza, Coca-Cola and VW, is slashing just over 6% of its workforce across its Boulder and Miami offices.

The US ad industry has been laying off staff in their thousands in recent months. The news that an agency as strong as Crispin Porter & Bogusky has had to resort to layoffs has driven home just how beleaguered the economy is.

The agency said in a statement: "In response to the current economic climate, advertising budgets are being reduced in virtually every industry.

"On a comparative basis, [our] business is doing well but we are not immune to the constriction of the economy.

"Our two main responsibilities are to our clients and to our employees. And in order to most prudently manage our business, we have taken the difficult step of reducing our staff by 60 of our 900-plus employees. We do not anticipate any further staff reductions.

"These are extraordinary times and we hope that we will not have to do this again."

Crispin Porter & Bogusky's performance has been impressive. In 2008 it was named Advertising Age's Agency of the Year and grew revenues by 15% to about $140m.

Examples of other agencies to have recently shed staff in the US include Leo Burnett, which axed around 75 jobs last week, while WPP's Ogilvy Group has begun reducing its workforce by 10%.

This article was first published on brandrepublic.com