M&C Saatchi Australia makes redundancies following global restructure
M&C Saatchi Australia has made a small number of redundancies in line with global restructures across the business, Mumbrella can reveal.
Following reports of restructures and staff lay offs in the UK and Asia-Pacific regions, the Australian arm has made less than 10 staff redundant.
Australian group CEO, Justin Graham, confirmed the redundancies to Mumbrella this morning.
“In planning for 2024, we had to review all aspects of our business inline with our overall revenue forecast for next year,” Graham told Mumbrella.
“We’re seeing strong opportunities for growth in 2024 with our evolving capabilities, and as part of planning for the year ahead we have had to review the overall structure of the business, consolidate, and make certain roles redundant.”
Just last week, the agency won Dare Iced Coffee’s creative account, described as a “truly special” collaboration by CEO Michael McEwan. It also recently launched work for Woolworths and BWS.
The agency is the incumbent on Tourism Australia’s creative account, which went to pitch in September. Mumbrella understands the pitch process will wrap up in February.
In October, chief creative officer Cam Blackley stepped away from the business and said at the time: “M&C Saatchi globally is going through a period of transition and that has accelerated the decision to part [with the] company.”
Former Facebook Creative Shop head, Steve Coll, was appointed as Blackley’s replacement at the start of this month.
UK publication PR Week reported five of M&C Saatchi’s key UK operations were merging into a ‘super-group’, meaning M&C Saatchi London (creative and advertising), M&C Saatchi Export (tourism), M&C Saatchi World Services (government and civic), M&C Saatchi Life (business transformation) and M&C Saatchi Sport and Entertainment will now be under one entity.
UK group chair of M&C Saatchi, Richard Thompson, said the changes were not about job cuts, but about improving operations, according to the publication.
Meanwhile Campaign Asia reported the Asia-Pacific region has downsized its teams, with the Singapore office “retreating” and most staff being made redundant.
Richard Morewood, CEO of M&C Saatchi Asia is stepping down from his role, and Graham will take on the position, alongside his current roles as Australian group CEO and global head of advertising.
As part of the global restructure, M&C Saatchi’s Asian head office will be merged with Australia, under Graham’s watch.
He confirmed there have been a “small number of senior departures” in the region.
M&C Saatchi is the the latest agency to fall victim to the difficult economic conditions of 2023, with Clemenger Group’s CHEP last month revealed to have made up to 40 staff redundant following the loss of the Telstra creative account.
In the last week it was also learned that independent publishing group Private Media had also made the decision to reduce its headcount, with a total of eight roles understood to have been made redundant over the Crikey owner’s four titles.
