Irish advertising agencies are cutting jobs in response to the downturn in advertising spend. In the latest cuts, McCann-Erickson will lose 10 staff, Dimension six, Javelin two and Ogilvy & Mather four. The numbers are unlikely to make the headlines but they are relatively large in agency terms - in some cases it means a 20 per cent reduction in staffing levels. Earlier this year, CDP cut staff numbers by a third and EuroRSCG reduced staff numbers from 55 to 44.
Mr Peter Davies, the new chairman of McCann Erickson, arrived less than two months ago from the group's Moscow agency where 40 people were let go over two days. Not unreasonably, staff in McCann's Dublin office were anxious when they heard he would replace their departing managing director, Mr Brian Sparks. "I take a more gloomy view than many of my counterparts in other agencies about the advertising environment for next year," said Mr Davies. "It's going to be very tough but we're going into next year to build revenue and that means we're taking a cautious view on costs."
In the early 1990s, agencies routinely hired and fired depending on the arrival and departure of clients but the latest round of redundancies is not directly due to lost business.
"This isn't a reaction to an immediate crisis," said Mr Davies. "What we need to do is grow the business in recessionary times and that means cutting costs." He said he'd rather do that now than wait until the end of the first quarter when other agencies that hadn't cut staff would be forced to do so. The 10 jobs that went from McCann's were equally divided between lay-offs and people leaving who were not replaced.
The six job losses at Dimension are due to the closure of the agency's recruitment advertising division this week and cutbacks on its advertising side.
"The closure of the recruitments side was inevitable given the current climate," said Dimension managing director, Ms Niamh Moore, who now has a staff of 20. "Advertising spend is down but we are fortunate that we have a strong direct marketing division and that is where clients are spending and where we are finding new business."
The growth in the direct marketing side of the business is also boosting Javelin which has let two people go - one from its creative side and the other from administration - bringing its staff number to 25.
Ogilvy & Mather's job cuts have been in its Galway-based interactive division and during the year the company also cut staff numbers in its recruitment advertising division by three.
The head offices of global agencies have been shedding jobs all year, prompting fears that this would spill over in Dublin where there are 15 subsidiaries of multinational agencies.
Mr Davies sees cuts in Irish agencies prompted by international cuts as inevitable. "The view has to be that if the mothership is taking some pain, then head office is not going to be amused if the Irish office isn't sharing that pain."
bharrison@irish-times.ie
ESB has awarded its advertising business to McConnells for creative and strategic work and Universal McCann for media buying. This is the first time ESB has split its advertising activity between two separate agencies - McConnells will deal with creative and strategic issues, while Universal McCann will provide media buying services. Earlier this year, 36 firms expressed an interest in tendering, 15 on the creative side - while 21 responded in the media pitch. On the creative side, a group of five, including the incumbent CDP, presented to ESB in September.
