People are upset. Dentsunext has closed and laid off staffers are pissed about how that shuttering was handled. Apparently, Dentsu knew they would be laying off bodies for months, but didn’t tell anyone. It’s not if you lay them off (that’s de rigeur these days), it’s how you do it. From Adweek:
“Dentsu knew about this for months and now they’re just telling people. In some cases, staff have been given just a week-and-a-half notice and two weeks severance,” said a source. “From a business perspective, [the closing] makes perfect sense. But some of these people have been here four, five, six, seven years. Sharp has been profitable from the beginning and now this – there’s no loyalty. Until Dentsu builds a culture of caring, they’re never going to succeed in the U.S.”
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With the loss of $100 million in automotive billings from American Suzuki, DentsuNext has been closed. The agency still has the Sharp Electronics business which will be shuffled to McGarryBowen, which Dentsu Holdings recently purchased. Other interests will be moved in to Dentsu’s California shop.
Dentsu has been trying to rebrand and get lean, so they can actually compete in the U.S. The agency Renegade was recently sold back to Drew Neisser, CEO. Meanwhile, Dentsu Group has unveiled a new slogan designed to embody a new corporate philosophy: “Good Innovation.” Don’t get it twisted. The slug is about a method of working, not about actual development.
President and chief operating officer Tatsuyoshi Takashima (pictured above), said that the new slogan was about: “the steady, gradual accumulation of ideas and creativity shared at our workplaces every day by people throughout the Dentsu group”.
Here’s an idea – handle your layoffs better.