Saatchi & Saatchi

Nearly a month after “parting ways” with JCPenney, Saatchi & Saatchi NY has let go of some staffers. The agency wouldn’t say, though, if the cuts were directly related to the account loss, but just that they were made in order “to align costs with revenue.” Tipsters have been giving us numbers anywhere from 25-35, but the official word from the Lovemarks Company’s NYC branch is that five percent of its workforce was affected across creative, account and planning.

Create a social media strategy, launch your campaign, and track the results in our Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting February 16. The online event and workshop will feature speakers including The Onion‘s Baratunde Thurston (left), Facebook’s Morin Oluwole, and bitly’s Tim Devane. Register now.

If his LinkedIn wasn’t enough to confirm it, a phone call cemented the fact that Saatchi & Saatchi X chairman Andy Murray is no longer with the agency that he helped found nearly 12 years ago. Spies are claiming that Murray was “ousted” from his post (though his name and frame are still on the agency’s worldwide creative board page) and that we can expect more management transitions at X in the near future. But anyhow, it appears that Murray is now turning his attention to his Arkansas-based “entrepreneurial technology incubator” dubbed Mercury11.

In 2010, Murray was replaced by Walmart alum Dina Howell as CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi X, the shopper marketing divisi0n which was formerly known as Thompson Murray until it was acquired and re-branded by “The Lovemarks Company” in 2004.

Since JCPenney added Minneapolis-based Peterson Milla Hooks to its agency roster over a month ago, some were wondering where this move would leave Saatchi & Saatchi NY, which has exclusively handled creative duties for the brand for the last five years (who can forget “Beware of the Doghouse”). Well, over the past week, we’ve received a few tips from different sources claiming that the retailer has indeed parted ways with Saatchi and that the parties involved are just keeping things quiet.

We reached out to JCPenney the minute we started hearing these grumblings on Dec. 20, but have yet to hear a peep from the brand or Saatchi for that matter. Well, it is the holidays after all, but considering that JCPenney’s new management brought PMH on board and changed PR agencies in just a month’s time, would a split from Saatchi seem all that shocking? Hopefully we’ll find out whether the relationship’s intact or not as we head into 2012. OK, back to autopilot mode.

Update: Well, they’re keeping quiet no more as a JCPenney spokesperson tells us, “Both jcpenney and Saatchi mutually decided to end our relationship.” According to tipsters, the creative account is worth something to the tune of $400 million, though we’re checking with Penneys on that.

Perhaps taking a cue from John Cusack in High Fidelity, “The Lovemarks Company” known as Saatchi & Saatchi is giving the gift of music (in lieu of, you know, the usual booze and other goodies) to its clients this holiday season. The Publicis Groupe agency plucked musicians and bands from within its global network and asked them to come up with original tunes for a double album and the result, we’ve been told, is a compilation that spans genres ranging from dance and folk to bhangra and ska.

Those on Saatchi’s list will soon receive an email with a link to the free, downloadable album, a personal message from Kevin Roberts and a digital booklet containing info about the artists within. If you’d like a taste of what you’re in for, clients, peep the album’s lead track, “Cosmos Baby,” from Russian band The Don’t Tell here and expect a music video for the track soon.

Saatchi & Saatchi’s shopper marketing division is on our radar yet again as Julie Quick has made a return trip to S&S X, this time to serve as planning & insights lead for North America. The Dallas/Fort Worth-based Quick originally spent six years at X as VP, account planning before taking on the role of SVP, client services at fellow Dallas operation, Symphony IRI Group. However, that role lasted just a few months. We guess there’s no place like home.

We’ve received confirmation that after a 15-year career that saw her veer from creative director at Saatchi & Saatchi to VP/ECD at the agency’s shopper marketing division, Saatchi & Saatchi X, Marilyn Lewis is no longer at the agency. Lewis spent the last four-plus years as VP/ECD at X’s Chicago office, but now we’ve been told that she’s no longer with the agency. Tipsters are alleging that Lewis was forced to retire.

 

From Saatchi & Saatchi LA comes a new campaign for Toyota’s 2012 Camry. Although the Camry is a thought of as a pretty bland-looking vehicle, Saatchi & Saatchi LA ECD Chris Adams asserts in the announce that for the new model, “Toyota has made a serious upgrade in technology, safety, elegance, performance and flat out beauty.” If you’re reading your email while driving, we would hope that safety improvements were considered when the car was in development.

In addition to the above TV spot (and a one that tips a Stetson to y’all, NASCAR fans), Saatchi created an online community that depicts, in their words, the “Camry Effect.” Here, Camry drivers are asked a series of questions that create their own “effect,” with individuals’ stories published on a site that looks like a Facebook/Twitter hybrid. It also allows Toyota to break down Camry drivers’ demographics. For example, did you know that 29 percent of Camry drivers know their NASCAR trivia? Did you know that 49 percent of Camry drivers prefer rock music while 24 percent prefer hip-hop? Now you know. Watch NASCAR driver Kyle Busch take his #18 Camry for a spin below.

Wow, it apparently didn’t take long at all for someone to break Mark Moll‘s record of arguably the shortest agency stint in recent memory as sources familiar with the matter tell us that Augusta Duffey has “resigned” from her GCD gig at Saatchi & Saatchi Wellness after just three-plus months. Duffey officially joined Wellness in mid-July with the goal being to focus on digital across all agency accounts including Plavix, Allegra and NuvaRing. We’re awaiting some sort of official confirm, but calls to Duffey went unanswered. Is an automated voice message a bad sign?

Update: Duffey has reached out and told us that she indeed left Wellness to take “a great position running the creative on the digital side of a large media company.” She won’t specify which one as of yet, but adds that it was “too good of an opportunity to pass up.”

We think it’s just sheer coincidence (on second thought, maybe not) but for those of you who want to avoid long-winded panels during Advertising Week, there are a couple of somewhat similar options thanks to CP+B and Saatchi & Saatchi New York. Depending on how bad your short-attention span is, the former is offering its “Six Minutes Each” event, which is a follow-up to the agency’s apparently popular “Five Minutes Each” panel at Cannes and lets you listen to Crispin’s top brass including Jeff Benjamin, Chuck Porter and Rob Reilly discuss hot industry topics.

Of course, if you can last an extra few minutes, there’s Saatchi’s event called “7X7,” where, you guessed it, you can hear seven people talk for seven minutes each. Saatchi’s offering has a more eclectic lineup than Crispin’s, though, as it features a range of guests from comedian Reggie Watts to Contagious director Jess Greenwood to this familiar face below. Hmm, which do you prefer, or would you rather just skip both?

 

 

 

Sources familiar with the matter tell us that Saatchi & Saatchi X New York ECD Peter Viento is no longer with the agency. Viento has spent the last three-and-a-half years at Saatchi X and prior to that, he served as SVP, creative director for three years. For the majority of his career, though, Viento worked at G2 as a creative director (12 years). Calls went unanswered at the ECD’s desk, but it should be noted that along with Viento, Saatchi X lost Gabe Wight, VP, account leadership, and VP, account leader Steve DeVore, who spent four and nine years at the agency, respectively.