Let’s take a moment to make a brief point to you fine people. It’s about the TBWA\Chiat\Day New York layoffs that went down a week ago today.
On September 17 (aka last Thursday), a source from TBWA told us that up to 20 were let go. We contacted the agency to confirm/deny, and got no response.
That wasn’t surprising, since the agency’s PR team hasn’t so much as made a peep to us since, like, July. But now AdWeek has their piece up (did I mention it’s been a week?) and there is even a quote (and an allusion to a quote, too) from Jamie Gallo.
Apparently it’s best to wait these things out — let the dust settle and then stir it up again. Chiat could have gotten this story out of the way a week ago, but now here it is again a week later for the entire industry to see.
For the record, we made multiple attempts to reach Chiat regarding this story. Now, there’s no rule stating an email/phone call must be returned. But this is some seriously wacky PR strategy, no?
Think of it this way: had Chiat answered my emails, I would have published their comment and whatever details were pertinent, thus leaving AdWeek without “new”, confirmed details. Note that AdWeek reports 15-20 staff were let go, and we had heard that about 20 were let go. Had we been able to officially confirm this with the agency, AdWeek might not have run their piece a week later, because the story is more than dead.
Image via Adland
More: “We Hear: Layoffs at TBWA\Chiat\Day NY and Leo Burnett Chicago”