BBH Lays Off 20% of Employees Across New York and Los Angeles Offices

By Erik Oster 

BBH confirmed that the agency went through a round of layoffs as a result of the business impact of Covid-19.

“Covid-19 has had a profound impact on the global business landscape,” BBH Group CEO Neil Munn said in a statement. “Regrettably, we will be restructuring our business in line with the new realities, to ensure we have the right setup to meet future challenges and opportunities.”

BBH parted with around 20% of its staff across its U.S. offices, according to a source with knowledge of the agency’s operations. The agency employs a little over 110 employees across its New York and Los Angeles offices. A number of employees were moved from BBH to other agencies in the Publicis Groupe network to prevent layoffs, the source added.

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BBH appears to be the first Publicis Groupe agency to announce a round of layoffs related to the impact of Covid-19.

Publicis Groupe outlined cost-cutting measures when reporting Q1 earnings last month, including executive salary reductions and the potential need for further measures including furloughs and layoffs, but thus far hasn’t made any further announcements regarding such staffing reductions.

The layoffs come as BBH New York managing director Brett Edgar leaves the agency to join 72andSunny New York as president. In January, BBH New York CCO Gerard Caputo left to join W+K New York.

If you have any information to share about agency changes, including layoffs or furloughs, you can send us a tip via the tip box or email us at agencyspymail@protonmail.com.

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