Burnett Execs Explain Cuts

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Leo Burnett executives presided over “town meetings” with their staffers last week in an effort to explain why axing 200 of their co-workers will make the agency stronger.

Burnett Worldwide president Bob Brennan and U.S. CEO Brad Brinegar outlined their plans for the agency to a staff unsettled by the 9 percent cut. They encouraged workers to “add value” to everything they do. The message from Brennan, whose success at the Starcom MediaVest Group led to his job at Burnett, was described as uplifting by several attendees.

“You can’t help but get inspired by Bob; look at what he did at Starcom,” said one staffer.

The layoffs, rumored for months and scheduled for weeks, cut across all disciplines and were positioned as an attempt to “stay ahead of the curve” in anticipation of slowing economic growth and the loss of the agency’s $300 million Oldsmobile account over the next three years, Brinegar said.

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