Ogilvy Sydney retrenches creative staff, CD Andrew Ostrom exits
A restructure in the creative department at Ogilvy Sydney has led to a number of creatives being made redundant, Mumbrella can reveal.
The most notable casualty is creative director Andrew Ostrom, a hire made by former ECD Chris Ford, who left the agency in May.
Ford’s replacement Brett Howlett, who joined Ogilvy in August from Archibald Ingall Stretton in the US, said:
It is a business reality that as a consultancy we must constantly review and recalibrate based on market and client demands; in this instance the process has regrettably resulted in several staff moving on.
A number of other staff within Ogilvy Sydney have also taken on new roles in order to keep the loss of staff to a minimum.
This was obviously a difficult decision for all involved and out of respect to those individuals impacted, we’d rather not make any further comment on the matter.
Ostrom, an ex-AdPartners and BMF creative, joined Ogilvy one year ago, shortly after executive chairman Tom Moult in November 2010.
He was behind Ogilvy’s spot for Le Snak Dehli which featured Bavarian dancers dancing to Run DMC.
He was also behind ‘tongue’ for Tooheys Extra Dry during his time at BMF.
Howlett said in a statement:
It was regrettable that we had to let go of a good creative, but after careful examination of the business we recognised that there was a certain structure and specific skills sets that we needed moving forward
Unfortunately, while a great creative talent, there was not a place for Andrew within this new structure.
The restructure comes shortly after Ogilvy missed out on the shortlist for key client Qantas, which is reviewing its creative agency relationships.
Bring back the white jacket! they were the good ol days Ossie! Loved it
A shame to let such a talented guy go. He was better than Ogilvy anyway…
An agency of Ogilvy’s stature might have realised that it is quite damaging to their brand to attempt to airbrush over significant redundancies with a perky announcement of a single new hire.
recalibrate – thats a new one for firing people
One way of looking like you’re actually doing something is to fire and hire. But eventually you have to stop doing that and start producing the work. Looking forward to some great work from Ogilvy – once they stop all the hard work of “recalibrating.”
Always a nice move for the Agency to shed staff just before Christmas.
Agree with Jo, you gotta love agencies – always spreading cheer at Christmas – to staff and their families.
Something is very wrong with this industry – and I think it’s got something to do with the people who run it.
They’re either heartless or stupid – able to see the next quarter but not beyond that.