While we’ve yet to receive confirmation from our contacts, a source tells us that approximately 60 DigitasLBi UK staffers could soon call themselves former employees.
Here’s the email excerpt we received this morning, supposedly sent to staffers by management at some point this week. It doesn’t sound good:
“Having exhausted all other possibilities we are now left with no other choice but to launch a formal UK-wide redundancy programme that will lead to a number of roles being removed from the business. We have entered into a period of consultation (a formal legal process) with many of our colleagues and are actively looking at alternatives to redundancy. The nature of this process means we are required to consult with a greater number of people than will actually end up leaving the business. We expect this number to be no more than 60 people.”
This would be the first we’ve heard of the news. Otherwise, things seem to be proceeding as usual overseas.
The last we heard of the agency was a report in The Drum noting that Digitas would rebrand the London-based wing of MRY as “Lost Boys” after the original Netherlands-based agency that folded into the larger LBi organization. The news gave us a brief 80’s flashback. The UK org also recently named Scott Ross to direct its tech strategy; he’d previously been with Toronto’s Critical Mass.
You’ll note that the email excerpt posted above contains no details about the cause of the supposed firings or the departments affected. The agency’s upcoming London upfronts look to be moving forward as usual, and we heard no news of account changes.
Updates as we receive them.