72andSunny Lays Off 5% of U.S. Staff

A spokesperson confirmed the move.

“Today we parted ways with 5 percent of our staff,” a statement read. “As our industry continues to evolve, we are reshaping 72andSunny to maximize the thing we believe in most: unleashing the power of unignorable creativity. This is the beating heart of our company and the highest value in today’s attention economy. We are sad to part with people from our team and thank them for their contributions.”

According to multiple parties close to the matter, news of the layoffs went live within the agency early today. The same sources said all teams and all levels were affected, with one placing the total number in the mid-double digits. According to LinkedIn, 72andSunny currently employs more than 500 across five offices on three continents.

It is unclear whether the announcement involved any changes beyond these departures; the spokesperson declined to elaborate beyond the above statement, and MDC Partners referred back to the agency.

One source, however, stated that agency leadership’s decision to streamline the organization was not related to yesterday’s news that longtime client MillerCoors had placed the Coors Light account in review. 72andSunny issued a statement confirming that it would not defend that business, writing, “We’ve put a lot of great work on the table for this brand, and some of it made it out into the world, but not enough. At this point, our creative differences are such that we are in better service as fans and beer drinkers than as their agency.”

An account loss—even one as significant as Coors Light—usually takes several weeks or months to directly affect agency operations. Adweek’s sources have instead attributed this downsizing move to 72andSunny’s efforts to ensure its own continuity as clients increasingly move away from the extended agency of record-style contracts. For example, this week’s acclaimed campaign for Halo Top was a project-based assignment.

72andSunny’s last major staffing change occurred last May when client Infiniti moved its account to Crispin Porter + Bogusky, which led to the agency’s Los Angeles office parting with 5 percent of total staff.