Yesterday, the New Orleans Times-Picayune updated readers on the status of hometown agency Peter Mayer Advertising: the shop had to lay off 40 employees after losing the CenturyLink account.
No one at the agency would confirm the loss, but “sources” told the paper that the client in question was indeed the largest telecom provider we’ve never heard of. Mayer helped launch the brand back in 2009, but the company began talking about a creative review way back in May 2013, with more sources telling Adweek that executives were “examining their creative account with a primary focus on digital marketing.” McKinney also reportedly continued “do[ing] some work for the combined company” after its merger, and Vendi of La Crosse, Wisconsin now references CenturyLink in the past tense.
Here’s the official statement from Mayer:
“In the lifespan of any agency, there are times when client needs generate significant growth and other times when the business contracts. Therefore, we are in the unfortunate position of having to rebalance our workforce to meet the needs of current clients. This is a painful thing to have to do. Our employees are the most talented, hardest-working and creative professionals in the industry.”
No word on CenturyLink’s future plans, but we expect their search for a new shop to become official soon. The last news of a new campaign from the company came in March 2013 with no agency information provided.