Leaders at the new Omnicom presented a variety of spin to address the 4,000 jobs—and presumably, 4,000 humans—being ejected from the ginormous White holding company.
Omnicom Media CEO Florian Adamski refused to let layoffs define the story of the corporate acquisition scheme. “This is not about eradicating jobs,” Adamski insisted. “This is about building a company for the future.” Right. Except 4,000 people are now learning they won’t be part of the future—and may soon face difficult times ahead.
Omnicom Chairman, CEO, and Pioneer of Diversity John Wren said, “[Globally eliminating 4,000 positions is] going to allow us to meet and exceed the synergies that we promised the marketplace last December.”
That’s political rhetoric meaning, “I must deliver the cost reductions I promised to shareholders and investors.” In short, Wren will keep his job by cutting 4,000 drones’ jobs.
Wren also claimed impacted workers will be notified ASAP in December so as “not to leave people in a state of doubt.” Um, people at Omnicom and IPG have been left in varying states of doubt, confusion, and anxiety since December 2024 when the deal was announced.
Finally, Wren positioned the overall firing figure as “a very low single-digit type of efficiency.”
Advertising practitioners love to shift perspectives to distort perceptions. So, let’s play the game.
Sure, 4,000 bodies might not appear to be a big deal when viewed against the Omnicom and IPG combined total headcount. Hell, the two White holding companies already dumped roughly 6,200 drones ahead of the acquisition.
Yet has any multicrumbtual advertising agency ever had 4,000 employees? Combining the total rosters of every Black advertising agency—past and present—would likely fall far short of 4,000.
Has the US advertising industry ever employed 4,000 Dawn Chambers? Based on 2017 data from the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, there are probably much fewer than 400 Black women executives in Adland USA.
Sorry, but “a very low single-digit type of efficiency” equates to a very high triple-digit type of indifference.
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