16649: TGIF CUL8R FCB.

 

Advertising Age reported on the inevitable: ie, FCB Chicago dumped 9% of its staff—which translates to roughly 70-80 people—in response to the Pfizer fiasco.

 

A spokesperson for the White advertising agency stated, “As a result of a recent decision impacting creative assignments, we have had to make some changes to align better with client work. This was a tough decision… Our focus now is on supporting everyone through this transition and winning new business to replace the lost revenue.” Nice. Wonder if such canned sentiments were generated by the wondrous IPG AI tools.

 

Hopefully, for the newly unemployed, it’s only a matter of trekking across the city and landing one of the numerous opportunities at Publicis outhouses.

 

FCB Chicago Lays Off Staff After Losing Pfizer Account

 

IPG agency cuts 9% of staff after losing creative work from the pharma giant earlier this year

 

By E.J. Schultz and Lindsay Rittenhouse

 

FCB Chicago has laid off 9% of its staff as a result of losing the Pfizer creative account, Ad Age has learned. The Windy City office employs more than 800 people.

 

“As a result of a recent decision impacting creative assignments, we have had to make some changes to align better with client work,” a spokesperson for the Interpublic Group of Cos. agency said in a statement. “This was a tough decision and equates to approximately 9% of our people in Chicago. Our focus now is on supporting everyone through this transition and winning new business to replace the lost revenue.”

 

The layoffs come about two months after Pfizer moved the majority of its creative brand duties from IPG to Publicis Groupe. It was an abrupt move that came less than a year after IPG was named Pfizer’s lead creative partner.

 

Publicis had already been established as the pharmaceutical giant’s “integrated global engine” during the initial review and the French holding company worked on Pfizer’s 2024 Super Bowl ad, which showcased the company’s 175 years of commitment to science.

 

FCB Chicago’s existing clients include Clorox, Kimberly-Clark and Cox Communications. FCB also recently won creative work from Kenvue, although that account is led from New York.