Boston-based Havas agency Arnold Worldwide went through a round of layoffs last week, which an agency spokesperson described as a necessary step to streamline agency operations.
The layoffs impacted under five percent of the Havas Village workforce, according to the Havas spokesperson. Arnold Worldwide employs between 200 and 500, according to Havas. This would seem to put the total number impacted by the layoffs roughly somewhere between ten and 25 employees.
“Today we said goodbye to some incredibly talented people, and we are grateful for the important roles they have played in our business. This was not an easy step, but a necessary one to streamline our operations as we bring the media and creative offerings closer together and ensure we are set up for future investments,” the Havas spokesperson said in a statement. “Our focus is on continuing to build on the Boston Village’s heritage of world-class creative storytelling and integrating our underlying strategic skillsets to deliver work that blurs the lines between message and medium to unlock value for our clients.”
The layoffs follow a series of leadership changes at the agency, culminating with the appointment of new chief executive and chief creative officers last month as part of Arnold’s agency restructuring. George Sargent joined Arnold as CEO, following the departure of CEO Kiran Smith after just a 15-month run back in October.
Sean McBride was promoted from executive creative director to CCO as Icaro Doria, who had served in the role for two years, moves on to another, as yet undisclosed, role in the Havas network. Executive creative director Fred Saldanha, who was CCO Doria’s first key hire after arriving at Arnold, left to join VMLY&R as global CCO on the Colgate-Palmolive account in September.
Arnold parted with longtime client Jack Daniel’s in November, as parent company Brown-Forman concluded a review in which Arnold defended by selecting Energy BBDO as its creative agency of record.