17550: On Ogilvy US CEO CUL8R TTFN.

 

Advertising Age reported on the Ogilvy US CEO, who is bailing out of the White advertising agency after roughly nine months in the role.

Maybe winning Network of the Year at Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity signaled mission accomplished.

David Ogilvy articulated his core philosophy on hiring as follows: If you hire people smaller than you, the company becomes a company of dwarfs; hire people bigger than you, and it becomes a company of giants.

Wonder what the iconic adman would think about his company being in giant flaming dumpster WPP, where hiring creates a revolving door of dwarfs.

Ogilvy US CEO to depart after less than a year in the post

By Ewan Larkin

Ogilvy U.S. CEO Lyndsey Corona is set to leave her post after less than a year at the WPP agency and is expected to pursue a new opportunity adjacent to the ad industry, Ad Age has learned.

Laurent Ezekiel, Ogilvy’s global CEO, will serve as interim CEO for North America, an agency spokesperson said. However, the agency does not plan to name a permanent replacement, according to a person familiar with the matter.

“Ogilvy thanks Lyndsey for her leadership and contributions to our clients and teams, and wishes her the very best in her next chapter,” the Ogilvy spokesperson said in a statement.

Corona’s late 2025 appointment followed an executive reshuffle in Ogilvy’s top ranks. In September, Devika Bulchandani, then Ogilvy’s global CEO, moved upstairs to WPP as chief operating officer. Ezekiel succeeded her at Ogilvy and subsequently installed Corona in November, giving her oversight of the storied creative agency’s largest region.

Corona joined amid a turbulent stretch for Ogilvy, which cut roughly 5% of its workforce last year as part of a restructuring. One of her core focuses was to simplify complexity for marketers and better integrate the agency’s various disciplines. WPP itself is working through a multiyear turnaround, including layoffs and the formation of WPP Creative, a unit designed to house Ogilvy and VML, among other shops.

Before Ogilvy, Corona served as WPP’s global growth lead on Verizon. Earlier in her career, Corona worked as president and partner at independent creative boutique Slap Global. Her experience also spans agencies including Stagwell’s Forsman & Bodenfors and Omnicom’s McCann.

17033: On The White House & White Advertising Agencies, Part 8.

 

Advertising Icon David Ogilvy is attributed with saying, “Search the parks in all your cities; you’ll find no statues for committees.”

 

The quote may be applied to President Donald J. Trump meeting with his Cabinet—a spectacle that reflects most executive meetings at White advertising agencies and White holding companies.

 

The predominately White crew is comprised of anti-DEIBA+ disciples who really are DEI hires—whereby the acronym stands for Didn’t Earn It. 

 

Indeed, the collective represents extreme exclusivity, patented privilege, and classic cronyism, supplemented with spineless sycophants jockeying for political power.

 

A Confederacy of Dunces is the title this group has earned—although it’s debatable that these fools have ever earned anything.

 

Yep, the White House mirrors White advertising agencies.

16842: On The White House & White Advertising Agencies, Part 3.

 

As previously noted, President-Elect Donald Trump regaining the Commander-In-Chief job mirrors Adland in a variety of ways.

 

Trump is selecting his Cabinet via hiring practices prevalent at most White advertising agencies:

 

• Recruiting cronies—and political sycophants to boot—with questionable qualifications versus judging people’s potential based on professional performance

 

• Assessing applicants on superficial characteristics—as reports indicate Trump is viewing videos of candidates to gauge their on-camera appeal

 

• Rejecting DEIBA+ principles—despite Trump delivering performative rhetoric to woo voters of color, it’s unlikely his talent pool would be labeled diverse, equitable, or inclusive

 

Iconic adman David Ogilvy said, “If each of us hires people who are smaller than we are, we shall become a company of dwarfs. But if each of us hires people who are bigger than we are, we shall become a company of giants.” No need to call out which camp Trump falls into.

 

Time will tell if Ogilvy’s words prophesy the nation we shall become.

 

16013: Heineken Hearts Hip Hop.

BBH Singapore and Leo Burnett Vietnam are among the agencies responsible for this concept-free cartoon campaign for Heineken. There’s an old advertising line attributed to David Ogilvy—which is typically extended—that reads: “When you have nothing to say, sing it. When you have less than nothing to say, let a kid sing it.”

 

Today the line should read: “When you have nothing to say, sing it. When you have less than nothing to say, let a hip-hop artist rap it.”

 

15881: Ogilvy On Hiring For Advertising.

 

Advertising Age reported on Ogilvy New York, where the White woman serving as President hired a White man to take the role of Chief Creative Officer at the White advertising agency.

 

Late Founder David Ogilvy said, “If each of us hires people who are smaller than we are, we shall become a company of dwarfs. But if each of us hires people who are bigger than we are, we shall become a company of giants.”

 

A fresh addition could read, “If each White person hires people who are Whiter than we are, we shall become a company of White people.”

 

Mission accomplished.

 

14897: Ogilvy Makes Good On New Year’s Resolution To Save Money And Lose Weight.

Advertising Age reported Ogilvy dumped 80 employees—including U.S. CCO Leslie Sims—as part of an overall restructuring. In an internal memo, Ogilvy Worldwide CEO John Seifert noted, “Other than Finance and HR, we are eliminating a whole layer of leadership roles designed to manage across multiple USA locations.” Oh, sure, don’t eliminate the bean counters deciding who gets canned and the HR wonks delivering the pink slips and white moving boxes.

Ogilvy Lays Off 80 Employees, U.S. CCO Leslie Sims to Depart Amid Restructuring

Agency’s worldwide CEO John Seifert, in internal memo, blames cuts on ‘challenging’ second half of 2019

By Lindsay Rittenhouse

WPP’s Ogilvy has laid off 80 employees across nine offices, amounting to 3.7 percent of its U.S. staff, according to an internal memo from Ogilvy Worldwide CEO John Seifert that was obtained by Ad Age.

Seifert also announced that Ogilvy U.S. Chief Creative Officer Leslie Sims would be departing amid a larger restructuring effort to focus on regional leadership, or “location-based leadership teams. Other than Finance and HR, we are eliminating a whole layer of leadership roles designed to manage across multiple USA locations,” he said.

An Ogilvy spokesperson declined to comment.

Seifert blamed the layoffs on “a challenging second half in 2019 and a cautious financial outlook for full-year 2020.”

“We continue to experience volatility in our diverse client portfolio,” Seifert wrote. “Despite important new business wins, we face client budget cuts and pricing pressures; ongoing shifts in the type and mix of work we do; and the dynamics of a project-based business model, which makes full-year forecasting and financial management very challenging.”

Seifert thanked Sims for “all that she did over the past year to support our next chapter business agenda, the creative community across the USA … and for her valued partnership among the Worldwide Creative Council.”

“Leslie joined us at a critical moment in our transformation journey,” he wrote. “She led the development of new creative campaigns on several important client assignments and helped re-energize our new business efforts. I’m deeply grateful for her support and wish her our very best. Leslie is a class act.”

Sims was appointed as Ogilvy's U.S. CCO in December 2018. She previously spent nearly four years at WPP’s Y&R (now VMLY&R), where she most recently was chief creative officer of North America. Before WPP, Sims spent 16 years at IPG’s McCann.

“With new local leadership teams now coming together, I’m very confident that we have the right growth mindset and progressive management approach to getting Ogilvy USA back to stronger business performance by the end of 2020,” Seifert concluded in the memo. “It’s always difficult to part ways with people who have given much to the company and Ogilvy brand, some for many years. Please join me in sharing with all those impacted by this action our deepest thanks.”

The layoffs come amid widespread challenges, including client budget cuts and shifts to in-housing and project work, facing many traditional agencies. On Monday, creative agency Arnold Worldwide, part of Havas, laid off 5 percent of its staff in Boston.

In a recent episode of Ad Age Ad Lib, WPP CEO Mark Read acknowledged the pressures unique to the holding company, as well as those affecting the larger industry. “If I have one frustration, it’s still somehow that we’re seen as an old-fashioned advertising agency that’s being disrupted by Google and Facebook,” he said.

Read said 2020 would see WPP focusing on returning to growth in North America and on championing a new creative strategy to sustain the company for the future, noting that creativity, across its various brands, has not been WPP’s strong suit.

14607: Top Ten Things To Say About Diversity In Advertising.

Came across the AdWeak concept above presenting the Top Ten Things David Ogilvy Would Say If He Ran An Agency Today—which inspired the notion below: Top Ten Things David Ogilvy Would Say About Diversity If He Ran An Agency Today.

14459: MDCommittees = Four Horsemen + Three Stooges.

Adweek reported MDC Partners formed a 4-headed executive committee to oversee the company and continue the search to replace former Chairman and CEO Scott Kauffman, who officially ended his stint on January 1. Plus, a 3-headed executive committee was created to direct the 4-headed committee. This scenario underscores the devolution of the industry. Advertising icon David Ogilvy was fond of stating, “Search all the parks in all your cities. You’ll find no statues of committees.”  Now there are committees to direct committees—with members in line to receive six-figure bonuses that could pay for erecting statues. Aren’t these honchos really just presenting the illusion of stability until the company is purchased? The root of “committee” is “commit”—yet the members here don’t appear to be committed to anything besides their own bank accounts. And this is a company with unacceptable performance and unbelievable financial woes. Perhaps MDC Partners should be renamed Hydra, as the place has become a monstrous mess.

MDC Partners Names New Executive Leadership Committee Ahead of Planned 2019 Sale

CEO Scott Kauffman exited on Jan. 1

By Patrick Coffee

MDC Partners has officially moved into a new leadership phase ahead of widely reported plans to complete a sale of all its assets at some point in 2019.

In a little-noticed SEC filing that went live last Friday, the ad agency network announced that now-former CEO Scott Kauffman, whose departure was first announced in September, would be replaced by an executive committee established by MDC’s board of directors. The filing noted that this group will lead the company while the search for Kauffman’s successor continues; it also further confirmed the news that MDC is simultaneously “evaluating potential strategic alternatives, which may result in, among other things, the possible sale of the company.”

An MDC Partners spokesperson has not yet responded to a request for additional information.

Approximately one month ago, Adweek reported that Accenture is one of three parties still involved in the process of bidding for some combination of MDC Partners’ assets, which include such agencies as Anomaly, Assembly, CPB+ and Forsman & Bodenfors. Earlier reports noted that multiple MDC shops, including Doner and 72andSunny, recently attempted to buy themselves back only to be rebuffed by the parent company’s board, indicating that MDC plans to sell the entirety of its network to a single bidder.

Three of the four individuals on this committee—evp, chief financial officer David Doft, evp, general counsel Mitchell Gendel and evp, head of strategy and corporate development David Ross—were also included on a list of five executives who have been approved to receive considerable retention bonus awards upon the “successful closing of a significant transaction in 2019.” That transaction must result in either a complete change in control of the company or the sale of assets whose “aggregate proceeds” are no less than $100 million. They would then receive one-time bonuses ranging from $500,000 to $650,000.

AdAge first reported news of the bonuses after their approval on Dec. 11. The new filing also adds evp, partner development and talent Stephanie Nerlich to the committee, which will “assume the role and responsibilities” of the CEO in his absence. (Kauffman will continue serving on the board until his term ends in June.)

In addition to the new leadership team, MDC has also created a three-person “strategic alternatives committee” to effectively manage or “provide oversight” to the executive group. It consists of independent board member and lead director Irwin Simon, who currently serves as CEO of the Hain Celestial Group, best known for its Celestial Seasonings tea line, along with MarketWatch Inc. founder and former USA Today publisher Larry Kramer and longtime financial executive Anne Marie O’Donovan.

The filing did not offer any updates on the state of the bidding process or the search for a new CEO.

“There can be no assurance that the company will pursue or complete any specific action or transaction,” the text read. “The company does not intend to disclose developments or comment further regarding its strategic review or CEO search until such time as its Board of Directors has determined the outcome of the process or otherwise has determined that further disclosure is appropriate or required.”

14403: Ogilvy Involuntary Redundancy Programme Coming Soon.

Campaign reported the Ogilvy UK voluntary redundancy programme resulted in nearly 50 departures, which equals roughly 4% of the staff. How did the volunteers affect the diversity of the staff? The Advertising Diversity Taskforce will want to update its breakthrough report for sure. No word on when the involuntary redundancy programme kicks in—or when WPP CEO Mark Read will merge Ogilvy with a third-rate digital shop, igniting even more redundancies. Hey, he should change his name to Mark Readundancy.

Founder David Ogilvy once wrote, “We are looking for gentlemen with ideas in their heads and fire in their bellies. If you join Ogilvy & Mather, we shall teach you everything we know about advertising. We shall pay you well, and do our damnedest to make you succeed. If you show promise, we shall load responsibility on you—fast. Life in our agency can be very exciting. You will never be bored. It’s tough, but it’s fun.” At Ogilvy UK, they are looking for heads to fire. They will pay you obligatory severance, and do their damnedest to make you leave. And you’ll have to load your belongings—fast. Life is tough.

Ogilvy UK voluntary redundancy results in almost 50 departures

Redundancy option was open to all staff.

By Gurjit Degun

Ogilvy UK has completed its voluntary redundancy programme, which will result in the departure of fewer than 50 staff.

The business offered the option to all employees in October after bringing its separate agency brands together and insisted that it was not a cost-cutting move.

Following the completion of the process, Michael Frohlich, chief executive of Ogilvy UK, said the programme affected less than 4% of staff, equating to around 50 people.

Campaign reported in May that there were 1,200 employees in the business after it merged Ogilvy & Mather, OgilvyOne and Ogilvy PR to become Ogilvy UK.

That figure preceded a string of high-profile departures, including chief strategy officer Kevin Chesters, chief creative officers Mick Mahoney and Emma de la Fosse, chief client officer Charlie Rudd and chief production officer Clare Donald.

Strategy partner James Whatley announced he would be among the people to leave in his personal newsletter at the end of last week.

Frohlich said: “As planned, we have completed a limited redundancy programme affecting less than 4% of our workforce in select areas of the organisation in the UK. These actions are part of Ogilvy UK’s transformation, as we focus on strengthening the agency for the future by investing in the areas that will bring the greatest value to our clients and support our own growth as a business.”

14356: Voluntary Redundancy Of Dunces.

Campaign reported Ogilvy UK is offering everyone on staff voluntary redundancy. This is a polite way to tell employees, “We’ll pay you to quit.” If there are no volunteers, does the deal switch to severance agreements?

Founder David Ogilvy is famous for saying, “If each of us hires people who are smaller than we are, we shall become a company of dwarfs. But if each of us hires people who are bigger than we are, we shall become a company of giants.” Well, is the place now offering giant payouts? And what happens if all the BAME staffers volunteer to leave? Hell, it’s unlikely anyone would notice a major difference.

Ogilvy UK offers all staff voluntary redundancy

The company stresses that this is not a cost-savings move.

By Gurjit Degun

Ogilvy has offered all staff in its UK business voluntary redundancy.

The agency sent an email to staff today explaining the move. The business has had a significant restructure since the departure of previous chief executive Annette King. It is understood that Ogilvy wants to give employees, who may have joined before the changes, a chance to step away.

Ogilvy has made it clear to Campaign that this is not a cost-savings strategy but for the company to “reinvest for the future”.

King was replaced by Michael Frolich, who is overseeing the company’s move to an integrated model, dropping agency brands including Ogilvy & Mather and OgilvyOne.

However, this led to several senior staff leaving the business over recent months, including chief strategy officer Kevin Chesters, chief creative officers Mick Mahoney and Emma de la Fosse, chief client officer Charlie Rudd and chief production officer Clare Donald.

Earlier this month, Ogilvy promoted Andre Laurentino to chief creative officer, working alongside executive creative directors Charlie Wilson and Jules Chalkley.

John Cornwell, chief operations officer at Ogilvy UK, said: “This offer of voluntary redundancy is the final stage in Ogilvy UK’s transformation journey. Our intent is to be as transparent as possible and provide our people with choices as we continue to reshape our business for the future. The intent of these actions is to enable us to reinvest for the future.”

14077: David & Gallopith.

Divertsity Diva Cindy Gallop continues to expose her cultural cluelessness by attacking David Miami for gender inequality in the shop’s recent reorganization. Forget the fact that the agency promoted from within—and ultimately elevated more minorities than the standard White advertising agency ever would or could. (Then again, maybe Gallop should have directed her ire towards Ogilvy Worldwide CEO John Seifert and Ogilvy USA Chief Talent Officer JR Zetrenne—as the two have also pledged to embrace divertsity.) Sorry, Cindy, but Latino agencies simply can’t find enough qualified White women to assume leadership roles. Perhaps they should offer White-women internships or scour Miami shopping malls for potential candidates. More likely, David Miami will recruit from Brazil.

8825: C’MON WHITE MAN! Episode 9.

(MultiCultClassics credits ESPN’s C’MON MAN! for sparking this semi-regular blog series.)

Two stories emerged in the past week with similarities worth spotlighting:

Advertising Age published the details of Ogilvy New York CCO Lars Bastholm reaching a “mutual decision” with his bosses to leave the agency after a two-year run.

Adweek published the details of former StrawberryFrog New York CSO Ilana Bryant launching a legal battle with her ex-employer.

In both cases, the agencies originally pursued and wooed the executives, hired them with great fanfare and quickly promoted them—only to decide Bastholm and Bryant were not a good fit and a divisive, negative force, respectively.

There’s an old management rule that reads, “Hire slow, fire fast.” Looks like the aforementioned agencies did the exact opposite, and ultimately wrote a new tenet that rambles, “Hire fast, promote faster, realize the errors slowly, let the situation deteriorate more slowly, seek an exit strategy via ‘mutual decision’ or ‘voluntary resignation’ at a turtle’s pace, make a clumsy announcement with the speed of a crippled snail and draw out the painful affair interminably.” Hell, David Ogilvy probably wants to rise from the grave and bash his disciples’ skulls with a Magic Lantern, while someone should force-feed StrawberryFrog CEO Scott Goodson a strawberry poison-dart frog.

Of course, Ogilvy North American Chairman John Seifert, Ogilvy North American CCO Steve Simpson and Goodson will walk away from the ugly scenarios they created scot-free—as agency staffers ride out the impending political storms and/or lose their jobs.

Seifert once admitted the industry is “not exactly leading the way” in regards to diversity and inclusion. Yet the douchebag clearly demonstrates he can’t even handle hiring White men. On the flipside, Goodson’s antics may succeed in persuading humans of all races, ethnicities, genders, sexual orientations, religions, disabilities and other cultural categories to avoid the field altogether.

C’MON WHITE MEN!

8525: Is Ogilvy Run By Cultural Crooks…?

Advertising Age reported on the latest scandal at Ogilvy in New York. Read the story quickly—then check out the MultiCultClassics perspective immediately following.

Seifert on Overbilling Lawsuit: IBM ‘Considers the Matter Closed’

Ogilvy North America Chairman Sends Memo to Staff About Employee Complaint

By Rupal Parekh

A labor complaint filed on behalf of an OgilvyNeo employee in New York federal court last week that alleged IBM was overbilled by the WPP agency doesn’t appear to have ruffled the feathers of the technology giant, one of Ogilvy’s most important clients.

IBM did not return calls to Ad Age yesterday asking about the lawsuit, and Ogilvy yesterday released only a short statement declaring the lawsuit “without merit.”

But the situation seems to have attracted enough attention that John Seifert, chairman of Ogilvy North America, felt it necessary to today send a note to the agency’s staff noting that “IBM has told us they don’t believe they were intentionally overcharged in this situation, and they consider the matter closed.”

Here’s the memo:

All North America Employees:

Yesterday several sources reported of an employee complaint regarding a billing situation between Neo@Ogilvy, a business unit of Ogilvy & Mather, and IBM.

I want to personally update all of you on this matter.

Neo@Ogilvy provides digital media buying services for many of our clients. In the case of IBM, in September 2009, we learned of some pricing discrepancies that we believed resulted from misunderstanding of contract rates for specialty creative units in various digital media sites.

After careful review of the contracts and a review of historical practices, we and another media partner brought the concern regarding the interpretation of pricing these units to IBM’s attention. This led to several agreed actions:

1. We conducted a comprehensive audit of all activity that ran in 2009 and through January 2010. We determined that there were some mistakes in pricing for which IBM should receive credit;

2. We approached all appropriate media partners where credit was due, and each of them issued full credit to IBM;

3. With IBM’s help, we have clarified any ambiguity in contract language to avoid possible confusion or misinterpretation of pricing terms going forward.

All of the billing related to these media costs are paid by IBM without agency commission or mark-up of any kind. So, at no point did Neo@Ogilvy or Ogilvy & Mather benefit or profit in any way from these pricing discrepancies. IBM has told us they don’t believe they were intentionally overcharged in this situation, and they consider the matter closed.

At a moment like this, an important reminder: in all business dealings, Ogilvy holds itself to the highest standards of business ethics. We have a comprehensive program in place to ensure that we maintain the highest ethical standards. We make this policy clear in our U.S. Employee Handbook. We annually reaffirm this policy to all employees in the company. Most recently, we have mandated that all employees complete the annual WPP ethics online training program.

We rigorously investigate all ethical inquiries, concerns, and allegations. This is not simply about compliance, but about doing the right thing.

If you have any questions about our practices and policies related to business conduct, please reach out to your manager or human resources contact.

Many thanks.

John Seifert

OK, MultiCultClassics has questions about Ogilvy’s practices and policies related to business conduct.

But first, it’s necessary to provide some quick hysterical historical factoids.

Ogilvy has messed up client billings before. Ironically, the last instance when they were caught involved John Seifert’s wife, who wound up being sent to prison for her money mismanagement. Feel free to review the details right here. As part of her sentence, Shona Seifert was forced to draft a Proposed Code Of Conduct For The Advertising Industry—which was actually pretty well-written and thoughtfully conceived. For example, read this excerpt:

If you believe something is wrong, you have a responsibility to say so, regardless of your position in the company or the industry.

Don’t duck the difficult issues. Don’t hide the truth. Discuss the issue with your colleagues and bring it to the attention of management.

Inspired by Ms. Seifert’s manifesto, MultiCultClassics would now like to examine an issue not related to Ogilvy’s bungled billings, yet potentially more criminal. Specifically, it’s time again to consider Ogilvy’s actions—and inactions—surrounding hiring and diversity.

The Ogilvy corporate website boasts a strong commitment to creating an inclusive workforce. It even displays a quote from iconic founder David Ogilvy:

“In recruitment and promotion, we are fanatical in our hatred for all forms of prejudice.”

Despite the rhetoric, however, John Seifert conceded in 2009 that the industry is “not exactly leading the way” with diversity, and his agency is “not blind to the fact that there is so much more to do to recognize our ambitions.” Sounds like an open admission of hypocrisy and guilt, huh? Take another peek at Seifert’s memo to the troops:

At a moment like this, an important reminder: in all business dealings, Ogilvy holds itself to the highest standards of business ethics. We have a comprehensive program in place to ensure that we maintain the highest ethical standards. We make this policy clear in our U.S. Employee Handbook. We annually reaffirm this policy to all employees in the company. Most recently, we have mandated that all employees complete the annual WPP ethics online training program.

Maybe the place should have everyone complete an ethnics online training program. Otherwise, all the sanctimonious chest-thumping is just stereotypical bullshit.

8447: Gap Redesigns Its White Marketing Mix.

Advertising Age reported Gap has named a new Global CMO and AOR in moves that take Corporate Cultural Collusion to a higher level. The retailer named Ogilvy as its global agency of record, and simultaneously recruited an Ogilvy executive to be its global chief marketing officer. The late David Ogilvy always insisted on showing his allegiance to clients by literally using their products. So look for agency staffers to be sporting cheap t-shirts and khakis.

Gap Names Global CMO, Taps Ogilvy as New Agency in Series of Major Changes

North America President Marka Hansen Leaves, Seth Farbman to Run Marketing

By Rupal Parekh

NEW YORK -- Three and a half months after a massive branding fiasco that earned the name “LogoGate,” Gap is cleaning house and trying to start anew.

The retailer has named WPP’s Ogilvy its new global agency of record, supplanting longtime agency Laird & Partners, and it’s also swapping out 24-year company veteran and North American President Marka Hansen for Art Peck, who has run Gap’s outlet business for the past three years.

And in an unusual twist, Gap simultaneously plucked a chief marketing officer from its new agency. Seth Farbman, Ogilvy’s worldwide managing director and founder of sustainability practice OgilvyEarth, will serve as the first global chief marketing officer for the Gap brand. For the past couple of years Ivy Ross has led marketing for the Gap brand, and she is now taking on a different role elsewhere in the company, Gap spokeswoman Louise Callagy told Ad Age.

Gap is also shifting its global marketing operation to New York—where Mr. Farbman will be based—and has set up a new “global creative center” that will centralize public relations, design and production. Leading the new center will be Pam Wallack, the current president of Gap Adult North America, and also housed there will be well-known Gap designer Patrick Robinson.

The wave of changes was announced by the company in a press release sent out at midnight Eastern time; it was the second announcement out of the San Francisco-based retailer within 24 hours.

Earlier in the day, Gap issued an unusually candid press release announcing that Ms. Hansen was stepping down effective Feb. 4. “After several conversations, Marka and I agreed this was the right time for a change in the organization in order to take Gap brand to a new level,” Gap Inc. Chairman-CEO Glenn Murphy said in the statement. “I am grateful for all that Marka has contributed to the company.”

Ms. Hansen started at the company’s Banana Republic unit in 1987, rising through the ranks in top merchandising roles at both Banana Republic and Gap, and had a hand in the retailer expanding its footprint to Japan and Europe. In 2003, she was named president of Banana Republic and four years later, tapped to serve as president of North America.

She was also one of the most visible executives connected with Gap’s rebranding disaster in the fall. In October, Ad Age broke the news that within just four days of introducing a new Gap logo, which re-created the retailer’s name in a bold Helvetica font and perched a blue gradated box atop the “P,” the marketer caved to customer backlash on Facebook and on blogs and reverted to the old design.

The debacle was what many analysts viewed as another setback for the brand, which has been plagued with declining same-store sales for several years. It is expected to report new sales numbers on Feb. 3.

“I expect more from our Gap business in North America,” Mr. Murphy said as part of his most recent public statement. “The changes we’re making are intended to propel the brand to deliver the product and brand experiences our customers demand worldwide.”

According to Ms. Callagy, the exit of Ms. Hansen and the dismissal of Laird & Partners as Gap’s agency doesn’t stem from the logo controversy alone. “It’s a very thoughtful and deliberate plan and is designed to help return the brand to health,” she said. She added that talks with Ogilvy preceded Gap’s logo controversy, and that the agency and retailer have been holding discussions about potential work since an agency review the retailer called in the summer of 2010.

Between the two press releases and an audio file, in which Mr. Murphy verbally explains the changes to the public, Gap’s behavior has taken a turn-for-the-transparent. Asked what’s behind the new approach, Ms. Callagy acknowledged it was a conscious move on behalf of the company, and said: “There’s a level of transparency that’s expected now from consumers, who want to have a dialogue and not just be spoken to.”

Contributing: Andrew Hampp

8372: Agency Diversity Statement 5.

When you advertise to the world, you must employ the worldly.

Considering all of the different people we communicate with in this global arena, it only makes sense that our people be equally diverse. We are in the business of perspectives and we need as many as we can get.

If you have a unique point of view — we want to meet you.

As one of the top ten marketing communications firms worldwide and the leading global network in one to one marketing, we employ over 15,000 people in 450 offices around the world. The strength of our reputation lies in the collective skills and talents of these individuals and our tradition of providing training and career development for our talent — began with our founder and continues today over 60 years later.

Our employees are encouraged to bring their ideas, experiences and perspectives, gleaned from their varied backgrounds, to the workplace. We strive to create an environment in which all employees can contribute to their fullest potential without regard to their race, gender, religion, ethnic or cultural background, generation, disability, age, appearance or sexual orientation.

Ogilvy is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

“In recruitment and promotion, we are fanatical in our hatred for all forms of prejudice.” —David Ogilvy, Principles of Management, 1968.

6316: Ogilvy On Advertising 2009.

From Ogilvy On Advertising, David Ogilvy on Firing:

Agencies used to fire people at the drop of a hat. Stirling Getchel’s otherwise admirable agency had a turnover in staff of 137 percent in one year. Another agency fired a copywriter because he dared to talk to the boss in the men’s room. Today the boot is on the other foot. The people who work in agencies are lamentably nomadic. I recently hired a 40-year-old copywriter who had already changed jobs eleven times.

Ogilvy & Mather fired up to 10 percent of its staff today, with some rumors estimating the headcount at over 300. How times have changed.