R/GA

Due to the whole H1N1 thing. But, we hear folks will still be working cuz thangs gotta get done. Get. well. soon.

In other news, the infected person is joined by another confirmed infected person within the agency. Apparently, the two are besties — in other words they spent enough time together that their both being ill makes sense. The pair's entire team is getting checked out as well, so it sounds like things are being handled responsibly.

Wonder who the person was that tried to cover this whole thing up? Oy, some people...

We'll spare you the riveting e-mail; shop.is.closed (for today).

More: "Breaking: Confirmed H1N1 Case at R/GA Causes Pandemonium"

Sources inside R/GA tell us the agency has one confirmed case of H1N1. We won't identify the person in question, but we hear he/she is being treated.

But details about how the issue is being handled internally are coming out, and all signs point to irresponsibility by the infected person's managing director. We're told the dir. told the employee not to tell anyone, and to go home. Naturally, people found out, and now the 4th floor is (at this very moment) in a state of semi-chaos.

"PEOPLE ARE FLEEING," one source tells me. "The whole 4th floor is hysterical right now."

Another interesting tidbit just came to our attention regarding R/GA's sick policy. Writes a spy, "Here at R/GA if you stay home sick, you loose a vacation day so there isn't much incentive for people to stay away... sick or not." This note was preceded by a sentence indicating at least one other person who sits near the confirmed H1N1 case is also ill.

Update: The agency issued an e-mail, indicating that the H1N1 sufferer is "recuperating at home". Get well soon! And relax, everyone, it's the flu. E-mail posted after the jump.

Update 2: Folks on the 4th floor are no longer fleeing, and the crazed-ness has become limited to a few people. But you should know the person who's sick was listed as a judge of a cookie eating contest on Monday, which was open to everyone at the agency. We aren't sure if he/she was at work that day, though.

More: "R/GA: No Money, Mo Problems"

continued...

Click play before reading on. R/GA CEO Bob Greenberg issued the kind of e-mail no one who's been doing a "good job" lately wants to receive. Yes, we're speaking of the, "So, you're not getting a raise, company. It's the economy's fault." Cue e-mail;

"Dear All: I am writing to confirm that given the current market conditions, R/GA will have to postpone our normal companywide July salary increases. We will continue to re-assess the situation as the business environment changes; and I will communicate further with all of you, at the earliest possible time. My best, Bob Robert M. Greenberg Chairman, CEO, Global Chief Creative Officer."

Yeah, we're a-holes for making light of this kind of thing. But you know, if R/GA wasn't so well known for promoting white kids who maybe weren't ready for that Sr. level spot, they'd have some flow for the folks who actually deserve the raise. Just sayin.

Update: Someone at R/GA has a confirmed case of swine flu.

Update 2: Apparently everyone on the infected person's floor is leaving the building. What's worse, we hear the person's manager told him/her not to mention the illness to anyone. Well, people found out and a source tells us, "PEOPLE ARE FLEEING...Yeah, apparently [that] floor is hysterical right now." We hope everyone is OK. Go home.

More: Remember that time they had their first layoff ever?

R/GA is going to lay off some 20 employees today, we've learned after receiving an internal memo. The cuts are set to happen around noon today, EST.

Details
The total number will represent less than 4% of the company's staff, which includes some 563 full time employees in the US. Another 17 are freelance and 38 others operate out of London.

"Due to the economic downturn affecting companies and industries worldwide, R/GA has decided to make a tough decision and reduce our headcount," said the agency in an e-mailed statement. "It was the financially responsible action to take at this time. Only the NY office will be impacted."

"[O]ur offices in London and San Francisco continue to recruit."

The agency has apparently made attempts to place cut employees in other IPG offices. We aren't sure if any placements were made, though. "The agency is doing all it can to see that affected employees in New York are considered for other open positions at IPG sibling agencies."

Mismanagement
A particularly interesting line in the memo stated, "[t]his is the only time that R/GA has had to take such steps." However, that statement is contrary to what we've been hearing about the agency. In February we told you that the shop has been using a subversive layoff strategy whereby they bring in an employee for a review and give them 2 weeks to improve their workflow, behavior, or whatever. Then 2 weeks later, that person gets cut and soon after his or her seat is refilled.

This one-by-one means of firing and hiring keeps things quiet. And if this statement from the memo is any indication, that's how R/GA wants to keep it. "Press Statement — Provide Only In case of Inquiry — Less Is More!"

Well, of course the aim is to keep this kind of thing on the down low.

More: "R/GA's Subversive Layoff Strategy"

Walmart has supposedly selected R/GA to handle its digital property, SaveMoneyLiveBetter.com. AdAge pegs the project as a $40M campaign and couldn't get anyone to confirm the win from the agency nor the brand. So, you know. This one is a rumor has it.

Meanwhile, The Martin Agency, the lead agency on the account, has had a definitive win for one of their clients, Geico. The shop has been paying internet starts to create videos in which the Geico lizard can be seen in the background. In one case, Gary Brolsma, creator of the "Numa Numa Dance", was paid $2,000 for his spot. Watch it above. In two days, the YouTube posting of the vid has clocked over 280,000 views. Nice.

More: Geico Caveman and Serta Sheep Are In The Hall Of Fame

You know the drill... Each year, Adweek assigns a grade to advertising agencies of note. It's kind of like Bloomberg's grading system for the New York Public Schools. This year, the magazine cut their list from 10 agencies to just 8. They arrived at their final mark by considering several factors: "global revenue percentage gain (taking into account the size of the shop), revenue/staff ratio and how well a shop did at accelerating revenue growth faster than staff expansion." The shops were also graded on their management practices, creativity, strategy and their use of social networks, mobile and smart use of technology tools. Here's the final report card:

AKQA: B+

TRIBAL DDB: B-

More: TBWA And CP+B Fight It Out For #24

You've gotta love good old Bob Greenberg over there at R/GA. He's always doing little things to let the world know how great his agency is. The latest is a video and class for R/GAers about how their model works, and why they're different. You know, because apparently no one there knows how the agency is run. Good grief.

Apologies for the sound — recording from my Flip since R/GA didn't make the video embeddable. Click here to read more.

More: "R/GA's Subversive Layoff Strategy"

Bob Greenberg's R/GA has won the Adweek agency of year. Greenberg has been obsessed with building a better agency from the get-go. This is fourth time the agency has won the award in the last 8 years. He says:

"There's a couple different directions agencies will have to take. There's a difference between us and someone like Crispin Porter + Bogusky. We've taken the direction of building brand platforms rather than viral stunts or one-off things."

Pow! Crispin is reeling, choking from the shot to the kisser. No. Not really, but calling out Crispin's for "viral stunts" in the national ad journal is pretty ballsy. Hmm... he could have added Droga in there, too to get that whole rubadub thing going.

Adweek gives them the nod for adding Hewlett-Packard, Mars and HBO as clients, and growing revenue by 20 percent to $126 million.

One of the comments was:

"I think RGA winning aoy is a testament to the poor state of the digital business. The work that is cited is two years old. This must mean nothing has happened in two years time. What digital needs is less pontification and more innovation."

And another from the other end of the spectrum:

"RGA is our prototype they are the new digital agency for the new age. RG/A has leadership, management, young creative talent and a goal. They are they model of what the future of advertising will look like, its like a time machine. Unpretentious, humble, consistent, vocal, great clients and always innovating. Well deserved!"

Where do you stand?

More:AKQA Goes To The Ballet

AgencySpy has learned from two sources within R/GA that the agency has been quietly laying off employees and using the economy as an excuse, but then filling the empty seats within days of their being vacated. What's more, employees are under the gun to "work-harder" — and have been getting ultimatums from HR to do so, and hyper-regular performance reviews (as in every few weeks).

We alluded to agencies using (thanks dickweed!) the economic downturn as fodder for replacing weaker employees. And though it's well within any at-will employer's right to clean house from time to time, we hear R/GAers are feeling immense pressure to outdo themselves at every turn.

Call it spring cleaning, call it part of the business, or whatever you feel it is. If people aren't performing to a certain standard, that's that. Here's how one spy described it:

"R/GA has a shady strategy of laying off people this year—accusing staffers of bad performance in the 2nd round of review even though the first round of review was ok last Dec. Then HR tells the staffers no raise for the new year due to bad performance. And then HR give a 2-week ultimatum to ask the staffers to work harder and take on more projects for there'd be a 3rd review in 2 weeks."

Another insider gave us the full run-down, explaining that at least one high-ranking staffer explained in no uncertain terms that the shop is cleaning house — not because they have to, but because they can.

It's understandable that R/GA wants to filter out the "bad" and of course do it without the press making mention. Business is business, after all. But in this downturn it's worth noting that there are at least two kinds of layoffs happening — those of a legitimate financially driven nature and what we have here, a simple case of "let's do it because we can."

A note: no word so far on how many people have been replaced. Anyone with tips can send them to matt@mediabistro.com or use the anonymous tips box.

More: "CP+B Lays Off 60, Cites Economy"

A few weeks ago we leaked R/GA's latest work for the AdCouncil, a site aimed at helping teens overcome textual harassment issues — you know, text requests for nude pics, uber-texting by stalkerish love-interests and all that.

Oh oh, add this to Droga5's recent appearance on The Daily Show. Way to get noticed, addies.

More: "R/GA Helps Teens Cope With 'Textual Harassment'"