We cannot confirm names or titles at present because the agency and its PR firm have yet to respond to repeated requests for comment, but a source tells us that New York’s Figliulo & Partners let several high-level staffers go last week.
The source claims that the employees who left the agency primarily held senior positions, that most hadn’t been with the company long, and that they were hired while Figliulo still ran the Sprint account.
Before we reported on Deutsch LA’s then-pending win in the Sprint pitch in November, sources told us that Figliulo had been involved (along with Arnold) in the latter stages of the review; since Sprint was the first and largest client signed by the then-new agency in 2013, some changes were inevitable.
While the total number of staffers departing Figliulo did not reach double digits, the source claims that the shift affected nearly 25 percent of the workforce at an agency currently employing fewer than 50 people.
Figliulo posted a big win last month in the form of Virgin Atlantic, for which it will serve as North American creative AOR. New campaigns should launch soon.
Again, we have repeatedly reached out to the agency and its representatives for a statement.
Updates if we receive them.