Today we learned that some staffing changes have indeed occurred at Saatchi & Saatchi New York this week.
To continue in the passive voice: it is true that a small number of employees, most of whom worked in the creative department, are no longer with the agency as of yesterday. Today a tipster tells us that the number was 14-16 and that more departments may be affected as well.
We do suspect that this shuffling of the desks may have something to do with the recent appointment of Jay Benjamin, who left his position as CCO at Leo Burnett New York to join the Publicis sister agency in May. That move came less than a year after Brent Smart took the reins as CEO in November 2013.
The new team’s ultimate strategy remains unclear, but it will almost certainly not involve more cats, be they grumpy or not.