Hey... Don't want to be a giant wet blanket here... But I just heard from one of my deeply embedded spies that major layoffs are looming, yet again, on the Ogilvy, New York, horizon... I, personally think this is a fucking shame, 'cos over the years, I've freelanced and made buckets of money at the House of the Red Carpets, while producing some worthwhile work. And, believe it or not, I still have mates there. Some in senior, some in not so senior positions... It used to be the best place to hang out at in our always fucked up, increasingly paranoid business... A business that is now not merely fucked up and paranoid, but increasingly irrelevant to the Big Dumb Clients expected to pay for all this bullshit. What can I tell you? Oh, yeah, I remember... Fuck all!
The current BDA business model!
Yes, freelancing is the only way to make money at the Red Stain.
Posted by: Anonymouse | March 10, 2009 at 04:04 PM
Permalanced there for three years. One of the best gigs I ever had.
They're about to move out of their digs in World Wide Plaza, and into a new space further West. I heard the new space is on 11th Avenue, around 46th or 47th.
Posted by: Chris - Art Director | March 10, 2009 at 04:36 PM
Chris...
It's actually 111 Avenue, just west of Hoboken. Employees will be issued bicycles and floatation devices. Management will be issued helicopters with a built in bar. No surprises there.
Cheers/George
Posted by: George Parker | March 10, 2009 at 04:47 PM
and one of the reasons their laying off, yet again, is due to poor planning... too many people to fill too few chairs in the "new and improved" building...
complete with gym, showers, new cafeteria and the fresh smell of junkie vomit to greet you every morning as you make your way to the front door...
Posted by: the lower depths | March 10, 2009 at 05:51 PM
I hear they will be offering a shuttle to the subway.
But you'll probably have to work until 11:00 to take it.
Posted by: Died Red | March 10, 2009 at 06:01 PM
the shuttle was a "before we ran out of money" promise, not sure how long they can justify that, you know? one to grand central, one to penn? or just to 8th ave?
Posted by: the lower depths | March 10, 2009 at 06:23 PM
Well, what won't go away after they run out of money for the shuttle is the long line of car service vehicles waiting to take the management team home every night.
Posted by: Died Red | March 10, 2009 at 06:35 PM
george, any time frame? I'd heard by end of april... what'd you hear?
Posted by: the lower depths | March 10, 2009 at 07:06 PM
As soon as they get the hookers in front of the building to move to another location.
Posted by: Died Red | March 10, 2009 at 08:04 PM
LD...
I just heard April... Which is next month... But the Poisoned Dwarf will be in Cannes early that month along with most of the senior management. So, they'll probably do it then and come back when the mob has been cleared from the castle walls. Did I just say "Wall?"
Cheers/George
Posted by: George Parker | March 10, 2009 at 08:29 PM
sounds about right... sip some bubbly while the peons pack their boxes, come back from france hung over yet enlightened as to the state of advertising...
that IS why they go right????
Posted by: the lower depths | March 10, 2009 at 09:10 PM
Shuttles work. When Ogilvy London moved to Canary Wharf (the Smoke's equivalent of Hoboken), they ran a boat service to and from civilization.
It was called H2O&M.
Best bit of marketing they ever did.
So, AdScammers, let's .....name the Ogilvy Shuttle
Posted by: Richard-in-Russia | March 11, 2009 at 12:13 AM
When O&M was at 2E. 48th. it was a magnificent place to work. I loved it. Rose's Room, Jock, Shelby and a bunch of other gentlemen. The demise of the Ogilvy "institution" can be squarely laid at the feet of the Odious Little Shit - a turd to which the title "gentleman" can never be affixed!
Posted by: Gerald Hattrick | March 11, 2009 at 01:23 AM
2 EAST 48TH STREET is just as far from the "6" train as 11th avenue is from the "A" train.
The 106 bus runs very regularly river-to-river on 42nd street.
If Ogilvy (the old Ogilvy) regarded its culture as precious, it would have never gone public; but then the capital gains would not have flowed as generously to the founders and initial investors.
With agencies split between media and creative chores, there is no reason for the latter to be in Manhattan in proximity to the networks and the national magazines; Hoboken, as recommended, is probably too expensive for the ad business. But perhaps a row of foreclosed houses in Bronxville might work.
Posted by: Zeckendorf | March 11, 2009 at 05:55 AM
hey richard: let's see the shuttle happen first? there were a LOT less people to ferry in blightey...
we're talking several hundreds here, plus given people's natures and the really crappy neighborhood their going to have to traverse to get to their new pearly gated cubicle farm... i've seen the new place and it's environs... there is nothing out there but car dealerships, cheap bars and strip clubs.
i wasn't kidding about the junkie vomit greeting you in the morning... at least the ladies of the evening will greet you on your way out and ask about stress management right around the corner...
here's their blog about it:
http://63611th.com/newbuilding/
and judging by the dearth of entries, no one really gives a rats ass... least alone the staffers...
Posted by: the lower depths | March 11, 2009 at 06:02 AM
Richard in Russia...
Borrowing from Bruce Springsteen, how about the "11th Avenue Freeze Out?"
Posted by: Clemenza | March 11, 2009 at 06:08 AM
I expected Richard-in-Russia would kick things off with "Siberian Express"...
Posted by: Edw3rd | March 11, 2009 at 06:37 AM
you can hear the conductors voice now:
"uzbekistan - kuwaiti local, ogilvy next stop..."
how about the "Limited Time Offer"?
Posted by: the lower depths | March 11, 2009 at 06:51 AM
has anyone tried to get cross town in a hurry? it'll be faster walking, i'd wager... especially if the thing starts at grand central, as mentioned...
anyone hear a route?
Posted by: the lower depths | March 11, 2009 at 06:53 AM
O&OMG?
Posted by: Richard-in-Russia | March 11, 2009 at 07:12 AM
Or, to Lower's point, given the traffic:
Ogilvy & Later
Sorry George, your blog...you take the lead
Posted by: Richard-in-Russia | March 11, 2009 at 07:13 AM
As an OMer in the New York office, I can tell you right now why there's so few comments on the new building blog. People here are so depressed about this move (between where the office is and being crammed in like lab rats) that they don't even want to think about it before it becomes reality.
Absenteeism rates are about to go through the roof when we move.
Posted by: addude66 | March 11, 2009 at 07:44 AM
the transvestites and the tunnel-hopping hookers have moved down into the 30s and upper 20s....
junkies have moved on also...
biggest danger is the russian body shops and the car wash illegals...
also a number of apartment houses in the area are owned by the screen actors' guild and AFTRA...long waiting list for an apartment......
comedy central is in the neighborhood a few blocks north and colbert motors in and out from NJ every day.....maybe Ogilvy can get him to a segment welcoming them to the nabe....traffic is tuff, but the car services are hurting these days and ogilvy should have threatened to move to NJ to get a better deal from the city.........
lest you think real estate is inconsequential, years ago a mid-sized agency management retired on the lease it sold in the time-life building across the street from radio city music hall........
Posted by: Zeckendorf | March 11, 2009 at 07:53 AM
addude 66: gotta say that the folks who are going to push the absenteeism rate thru the roof after the move deserve to be permanently absent. while ogilvy is a shadow of what it once was, at least these people will be getting paid to sit in those horrifying cubicles. a lot of us are not. and, sad as it seems, the open environment is not going away -- every place i've freelanced in has it.
Posted by: formerlyred | March 11, 2009 at 08:27 AM
sorry zeckendorf, but real estate only matters to the title-holder, the rank & file (meaning EVERYONE ELSE)? too bad...
as for where the hookers and junkies are? they shift to where the money is. chelsea piers goes up? instant leech population follows... 1300 new white people with some fairly substantial cash in pocket? hellooo new neighbors... wanna party? got what you need...
you can't have lunch at comedy central, and who the hell wants to live the AFTRA building? have you been inside that thing?
the body shops and car washes are no danger... add the west side highway and the tourists in the warm weather right down the block, and the moonscape outside (there is literally nothing around for blocks) and the moonscape inside... really? cubicles with uncomfortable looking chairs and sitting face-to-face with a cell mate? really? that's modern and productive? looks like the IRS with a face-lift.
now we're talking a proper soul-wrenching experience.
and addude66? no one posted crap on that blog when it was fresh... "D" is the one carrying the weight of copy on it. who wants to comment on something you have NO control over? it's not like people could, say, have debate about where to move that might matter. it's a dump site for bad PR. it's 5 months since they put it up and you'd think that the money shot of the cubicle farm might have been expanded to show all the "new" work and additions? nope, same crap shot with stupid red flower.
oh and on the QT? not everyone gets new furniture. some a re going to pleasantly surprised to find some of the older, out-of-place 8th avenue crap with their names on it...
oh, how Twitter shall tweet and CurseBird soar....
Posted by: the lower depths | March 11, 2009 at 08:50 AM
The animated header only shows people leaving the building. It looks as if one guy crossing the street is being hit by a van? The grass, or moss? on the roof grows for a while but soon disappears, and after a little while everything stops.
Posted by: tore | March 11, 2009 at 09:40 AM
just like the real world ogilvy, the similarities are striking, no?
Posted by: the lower depths | March 11, 2009 at 10:02 AM
Hopefully they won't trick people into thinking that they aren't being layed off because they get to pack and move.
I remember distinctly, as we all packed up or boxes to move into "the new space at DraftFBC". The same day as we moved, they started the 150 person bloodbath, even before people had located their new assigned spaces.
It was kinda like watching the clubbing of stunned little baby seals.
Getting to move does not equal getting to stay.
Posted by: Amper Sand | March 11, 2009 at 10:43 AM
LOWER DEPTHS,
you're right
WHY NOT GET A real estate license?
Posted by: Zeckendorf | March 11, 2009 at 02:01 PM
um, because that market both sucks and blows at the same time and I do have enough integrity to not be that type of person?
Posted by: the lower depths | March 11, 2009 at 02:36 PM
The best space I ever saw for an agency was two unconnected floors of a building on the corner of 31st and 9th in 1980.
Unfortunately, the agency moved to 3rd avenue and 50th street, went public, merged, and was out of business by the end of the decade or thereabouts.
Posted by: Tom Messner | March 12, 2009 at 07:13 AM
You guys are fucking out of your minds - in this day and age you are going to complain about 11th avenue? Fuck all - I just interviewed for a job in Ridgefield, N.J. and I didn't get it - but if I HAD gotten it - I would have been there every morning at 9am which would mean a bus from Port Authority at 8am. New Yorkers are tough? Sound like a bunch of pussies to me. And they have to have a shuttle to get people to work - in other words they have to babysit their employees? I guess they should call it Ogilvy & Mother then...I wish they would give me a job (for the 3rd time) - I'd be at 11th avenue on time and grateful as hell. As it is some poor Mexican is going to get displaced because I'm trying to find a job washing dishes!
Posted by: truthmyfriend | March 12, 2009 at 01:29 PM
Back to the original topic, anyone have any further clue on timing?
And yeah, I know it's better than no job, but 11th Ave sucks.
Posted by: WriterMan | March 12, 2009 at 01:58 PM
friends have told me they're girding their loins for the end of April to mid-May as the move is slated for June, but i'm sure it's on a fluid timeline... no new wins? sooner. a win or assignment or two? later.
we all would agree that A job is better than NO job, truth, but all things being equal? 11th ave blows... Ridgefield has it beat hands down...
Posted by: the lower depths | March 12, 2009 at 03:56 PM
nice try, but it takes an hour and a half on the bus from Ridgefield to Port Authority in the afternoon. I can get from 11th avenue to union square in 25 minutes.
And Ogilvy is about to get a lot better, I heard some new creative leadership is on the way and I have no doubt this person can do some rainmaking...
in the 20 years I've worked in ad agencies in NYC, my happiest days were at O&M and OgilvyInteractive - by FAR. I wouldn't count Ogilvy out...but that's just me...
Posted by: truthmyfriend | March 12, 2009 at 04:22 PM
it was a joke...
Posted by: the lower depths | March 12, 2009 at 04:38 PM
Here, in a nutshell, is what must be done to save the sinking Red ship before it crashes into the rocks that line the river across the street from their new "home":
1. Exile Carla to her house in France. Let her spend the rest of her misanthropic life searching the woods for truffles and pondering how she single-handedly ruined a once great agency.
2. Let Chris move to a chief competitor, which will ensure their demise. Did anyone see the ad he did for some company called Kaplan? I wasn't even sure what they were selling. Yet another exercise in self-indulgent, wordy, mediocre writing. Definitely one of the worst leaders in the history of leadership.
3. Make Jan Leth account for what he actually accomplishes each day. He's billable on WHAT account?
4. Give Apicella a Wii concession in Plainfield, New Jersey at Morton's Mall. With all the practice he's gotten, the job should be a cinch.
5. Check Harvey Kipnis for a pulse.
When will my recruiter call? The only person I'll miss will be Nurse Penny.
Posted by: Reality Chick | March 12, 2009 at 04:50 PM
don't forget jeff, bob & dennis & the rest, the security guards ... right nice bunch of guys...
Posted by: the lower depths | March 12, 2009 at 07:11 PM
And the cafeteria cashiers. They are nice, too.
Posted by: WriterMan | March 12, 2009 at 09:06 PM
funny... i wonder, if you were to take a poll, how many that've been there might actually go on record saying they miss apicella or wall or loved working with gray or hendra?
i know it's not a popularity contest, but how well you're perceived by the people under you says a lot about you, no? i suppose everyone will miss the people that didn't negatively impact on their daily struggles and ruin their weekends while achieving any noticeable rewards for all the efforts.
Posted by: the lower depths | March 13, 2009 at 05:15 AM
Wall, Hendra, Harvey, Gray, Apicella -- the friggin place is sinking and they just keep on keeping on. And I'm sorry, but John Seifert ain't no savior. Nice guy on the surface, but he doesn't give two shits about the work. Been there. Seen it.
Posted by: pawn | April 07, 2009 at 06:14 PM