Publicis Sanchez Lays Off Staff

Recently formed Publicis Sanchez & Levitan has eliminated 8-10 positions in its Dallasoffice. The agency’s locations in Miami and Los Angeles remain unaffected, officials said.

The move follows the March merger of former independent shop Sanchez & Levitan of Miami with Omnicom’s SiboneyUSA offices in Dallas and Los Angeles, all under the French-owned Publicis banner.

“You take two full-service agencies and put them together, you have some redundancies,” said Tory Syrvud, head of the Hispanic marketing company’s office in Dallas.”A lot of people are downsizing because of the slowing economy and reduced business, [but] that is not the case with us.”

The agency now employs about 25.

Syrvud said Hispanic marketing projects have taken a softer hit than the general market during the recent economic doldrums.

“This is the first downturn in the economy in history where clients have cut their marketing budgets and Hispanic marketing wasn’t the first thing to go,” Syrvud said.

“What many advertisers are realizing is that more often the dollar spent in Hispanic [advertising] returns more than the general market,” he said.