A Thursday Tip Round-up; Razorfish, Saatchi, Droga5, Grey, TBWA\Chiat\Day, Berlin-Cameron, Mindshare, Nitro, GSD&M and BSSP

By Matt Van Hoven on June 4, 2009 5:11 PM

Well some agencies just don’t know how to return a gal-dern e-mail. Anyway, here’s the dirt we’ve been tracking down today, all in one tidy place.

We hear:

&#151 Saatchi NY’s head of planning Sandy ~~Johnson~~ Thompson left the agency recently.

&#151 Droga5 may be meeting with Arby’s about a project that could lead to shift away from current agency Merkley.

&#151 Grey/SF’s creative work is apparently now done in NYC. They may be trying to sublease their SF offices so some assume the office is about to be closed. Update: A source informs us that UK based 2CV has moved in and is currently subleasing the office. “[G]rey even puts the 2CV folks right at the front of the office so ‘it looks full’.” Natch.

&#151 In case you missed it, TBWA\Chiat\Day Los Angeles Laid Off 35 more last Friday.

&#151 More layoffs rumored at Razorfish today, presumably New York.

&#151 Is Jason Peterson gone from Berlin Cameron? I found a cached page with his info, but didn’t see him on the main site.

&#151 Speaking of layoffs, Mindshare’s suffering today as well.

&#151 re: Nitro losing kraft, someone told me Chris Clarke was on a call with several key clients, the conversation got aggressive and somehow spiraled out of control, and they lost the account the next day. Update: A source tells us Clarke is hoping to sell Nitro, but “thing is that no one wants to buy it.”

&#151 When GSD&M lost the BMW Media pitch, my first thought was, “how many, and when.” No word yet, but best guess is 25 from the media dept. My spies agree.

&#151 BSSP may have lost Epson. Update: A source tells us Epson was short on finances and took the account in house.

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