Saatchi & Saatchi announces structural changes
Further to CB reports on Monday and this morning, new CEO Nicky Bell (left) has confirmed structural changes at Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand. Bell says the positions of three Auckland-based executives; Sonya Berrigan (MD), Matt Shirtcliffe (CD, Direct) and Tony Gardner (GM, Digital), will be disestablished in a move aimed at removing silos between disciplines and flattening hierarchies to better enable the development and delivery of ground-breaking ideas for clients and consumers.
“These are very difficult but necessary changes which have evolved through robust discussions within the agency,” says Bell. “Our senior team has given their all to Saatchi & Saatchi over the years, particularly through a period of huge transformation in the industry. Each has made a strong contribution to building our capability platform, and we’re enormously grateful for their contribution.”
The new structure moves away from traditional agency hierarchies, withsenior account leaders now reporting directly to Bell, and anintegrated multi-disciplinary (digital, direct, retail and advertising)creative department reporting into new ECD, Dylan Harrison.
“Saatchi & Saatchi has a stewardship responsibility for some of NewZealand’s best-loved brands, and we’re placing our emphasis ondelivering irresistible ideas and content to inspire consumerparticipation across all media. The new structure aims to promote amore organic process for delivering compelling and effective ideas forclients,” says Bell.
“Consumers no longer differentiate between ‘online and offline’ channels, nor should agencies,” she says. “Our clients are astute marketers; hungry for progressivecommunications solutions to help them achieve profitable growth. We arefortunate to be entrusted with their brands, and have been thrilledwith their response to our early creative ideas and plans for the NewZealand agency.
“This process has been good for us. We’ve taken an objective look atwhere we stand in the world, and approached the changes with honestyand integrity. While this has resulted in very difficult decisions forseveral people, we’re confident the changes will benefit our clients’brands and services, and the wider Saatchi & Saatchi team over thelonger term,” says Bell.
Bell confirmed the earlier CB report that Tony Gardner will work through June on several key projects.
12 Comments
Love it – hopefully they’ll show really good integration
Brave move, but looks like a good one to me
Tough decisions, certainly. But it’s the only way forward nowadays.
Yeah yeah but lets be honest, agencies constantly evolve from the flat structure where the word ‘intergrated’ gets thrown around in the press release, through to the ‘we are creating specialised units that will allow us to devote specialist resources in what are very specialised disciplines, thus enabling us to met the changing needs of our clients’
Not saying either option is wrong, just that we see this pendulam swing one way then the other every few years depending on the size and profitability of the shop.
4:57. Bang on.
Never a good time. You can imagine the coded conversations and the huddles and the carefully crafted mmeos leading up to this…business as usual in adville.
Our Father, which art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done,
in earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive them that trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil.
[For thine is the kingdom,
the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever.]
Amen!
Unfortunately nobody their really buys in to this – they just give it lip service like when DGS was set up.
Structuring this way is in one thing, making money out of it is another. But given Saatchi’s have not turned a profit in NZ in recent years (if ever) I doubt this is will be a concern.
They’ve probably been told to make a profit … too many multinationals treat their NZ outposts as trophy shops designed to bring in the metal at Cannes so they can parade it throughout the whole network.
Saatchi has probably woken up … and decided its time to make money …
Horse. Gate. Bolted.
As always, do some good ads and shut up intergrating
more art in heaven than under the new regime