Well, if his name being scrapped from the management section of Saatchi & Saatchi X’s website isn’t enough of an indication, we have received official confirmation from the shopper marketing agency that, yes, its CEO, North America, Charlie Anderson, is out. The Saatchi X camp tells us that Anderson made a decision to leave last Friday (though spies, no surprise, allege that he was “forced out”).
Anderson spent just over 13 years at Saatchi & Saatchi X, moving up the ranks from account lead to managing director to global client engagement officer to his most recent role as North American CEO (one which he’s actually assumed once before), which lasted two-and-a-half years. His former employer tells us that “Charlie has done great work for us over the last 13+ years and was an important part of establishing Saatchi X as the preeminent Shopper Marketing Agency and for that we are sincerely grateful – he leaves a lasting legacy.”
From what we’re hearing, Anderson is possibly heading to Project: Worldwide, though we’ve yet to hear anything of the sort from folks familiar with said shop. As for Anderson’s successor, no word yet on if Saatchi X has immediate plans to replace him.
Update: Well, that was fast. Not sure if ol’ Charlie was embellishing or just forgot to update certain things, but Saatchi X has informed that his last title was NOT CEO, North America, but rather EVP/client development officer. The more you know…