Dell’s VP of Marketing, Casey Jones, is in hot water. The May 2007 hire, who pushed for the seemingly botched WPP/Enfatico consolidation plan, may not have much time left (at least that’s what we’re told) and is apparently on probation.
We hear that after a meeting with the Dell board, Jones was unable to convince the higher-ups that things are going well.
More after the jump.
Some background: Dell’s CMO Mark Jarvis, is responsible for bringing Jones onto the team. Jarvis has had a short-but-lucrative career with the tech giant, beginning in April 2007. Since then he’s gone from consultant to CMO. One month after joining the company, he brought on Jones as VP of Marketing.
Jarvis met Jones while working at Oracle, a company he spent 14 years with before allegedly getting fired.
In the six months leading up to the WPP/Dell deal (remember, he came on in May 2007), Jones spearheaded the convergence of Dell’s more than 800 marketing/ad shops into WPP…and Enfatico. He had previously been at McCann Erickson.
On that note, Jones told PRWeek that the WPP deal was “a sane decision in an irrational world.” Full story here.
Parker commented on the potential doom that loomed in Jones’ future, remarking, “…the word is that Casey Jones (didn’t he work on the fucking railroad or something?) who pushed for a single global agency, which was a stupid fucking idea, is having a ‘diminished say in matters.’ Which is agency code for, “Hey Dude… You are fucking toast!!! ”
Way to go George. Our spy tells us Jones will be gone by the year’s end. One final thing, Jones is apparently responsible for creating “the WPP role to circumvent Dell’s travel policies, etc.” More info this detail is being researched; did Jones create WPP so he could have access to the company jet?
Fun truthiness: Jarvis reportedly commutes to Austin from his LA home on a Dell-provided private jet (and will earn $6,664,745 in 2008).
Photos from Flickr.