Ogilvy & Mather has axed 20 members of staff, including two senior
executives, following the loss of its key Ford of Europe account to
Young & Rubicam in July.
Malcolm Gaskin, a creative director on Ford, and James Page, the former
Ford account director, are the most senior casualties. The other
redundancies are spread across the agency.
The cuts had been widely expected since Ford dropped its Y&R bombshell
three months ago. A statement from Tom Bury, O&M’s chief executive,
read: ’The redundancies were made following a comprehensive assessment
of the agency’s staffing requirements for 1999.
’This was conducted against the background of a predicted economic
downturn and the loss of some revenues from major client, Ford of
Europe. The agency is also restructuring to deliver greater efficiencies
both internally and for its clients.’
Bury added: ’It is disappointing to have to take this kind of action
but, like any business, we cannot carry cost unsupported by revenue.
Thankfully, recent new-business wins such as Thorn, Saga, COI and
Eurotunnel allowed us to keep the number of redundancies to a
minimum.’
O&M lost the lion’s share of the mammoth Ford account in July when Y&R
landed the Ka and Fiesta across Europe (Campaign, 10 July).
The switch came just days after Y&R won the pan-European launch of the
Focus, the successor to the key Escort marque.
Gaskin, the former Woollams Moira Gaskin O’Malley partner, joined O&M
full-time in May to head the Ford of Britain business after working
freelance for the agency for some months.
Page joined O&M from FCB in September 1992. He took over the Ford
business in 1995, handing over the reins this February to Daryl
Fielding, the former BMP DDB account director.
Most recently, he headed a number of other accounts as a managing
partner.
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