I’ve had many comments and emails concerning my post and my BrandRepublic piece about the anniversary of David Ogilvy’s death. Some are even complimentary! One in particular from one of my Ogilvy Deep Throats tells me they are about to go through another round of massive layoffs. This one will include some very senior people, right on top of the management side (they already cleaned house on the creative side). My informant tells me they might be smarter this time and dole out the pink slips in smaller batches than last time to hide it from foaming at the mouth, rabid bloggers like me and the trades, but my AdScammer pal tells me it's definitely happening. Apparently new CEO and prospective “Savior,” Miles Young is under tremendous pressure because Ogilvy continues to be last in the fucking BDA new biz stakes. For some reason it actually does not have a new business person (probably ‘cos they can’t find anyone crazy enough to take the fucking job) and search consultants are so down on them that they have stopped inviting Ogilvy to pitches. At the same time, clients have been cutting back on compensation. The Wall Street Journal's Suzanne Vranica reported today that Amex cut their fee by 30%. With clients pulling back and lack of new business growth they are pretty fucked and the only way out to meet their numbers is fire people. As my Deep Throat puts it so well… “Ogilvy used to be viewed as a great agency, even only 4 or 5 years ago. It's hard to believe how fast it deteriorated to the point that it is now lumped together with the dregs of the BDA's like Draft and Y&R. David must be turned around in his grave.” Amen to that, it’s a fucking tragedy!
At least it's Kate Day!