2 EVPs Among Dailey Layoffs

LOS ANGELES Executive vice presidents Hunter Phillips and Ron Taft are among the five employees who departed Interpublic Group's Dailey & Associates last Friday in an agency belt-tightening move instituted by CEO Brian Morris in advance of incoming president and CCO Steve Rabosky, Morris confirmed.The agency employs more than 400 people, and the cut represents about 1 percent of its total staffers."We're doing this for budgetary reasons," Morris explained. "Hunter is a friend and talented guy, so it has nothing to do with performance. We have good bench strength here and people who are underutilized. Had to tighten the belt. Nobody did anything wrong. In fact, they'll be missed."Morris said that despite the timings the layoffs had nothing to do with IPG's financial woes or the start of Rabosky's reign. "I wanted to start today with a new chapter going forward, positive and future oriented, which is now the case.Morris said Tom Lehr, evp, managing director who has been with the company for close to a decade, takes over new business with the assistance of Jennifer Doud, who had previously worked with Phillips, who was evp, managing director. Taft was evp and director of the agency's interactive wing. Morris said that his plan is to make "a form of media integrated into all creative and reporting to Rabosky. So we're dissolving the need for a head of a division of a separate unit." Nick Collier remains the interactive creative director.Rabosky, who was hired after parting ways with Publicis Groupe's Saatchi & Saatchi, Torrance, Calif. last week [Adweek Online, March 22], officially starts at Dailey on Monday."I enjoyed my experience here, accomplished a lot and feel confident that the agency is well positioned for its future," said Phillips, who as head of operations at Suissa Miller joined Dailey when the two agencies merged in 2004. "Dailey is the type of entity that is challenged by the current business climate. I think it was committed to the innovative work we were doing for as long as it could be."Phillips and Nancy Giordano co-created Dailey's Brand Strategy Group, working on projects for Dailey clients Safeway and Del Monte. "The Suissa Miller change was a good experience for what is even a bigger change at the agency ahead," said Phillips. Phillips, who only learned of the agency's decision yesterday, said he has not decided where he's going but "will be open to all manner of things."Dailey clients include Southern California Ford, Safeway, Honda Motorcycles, Nestle candy bars and ConocoPhillips.

Brand Marketing

2 EVPs Among Dailey Layoffs

Gregory Solman

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