On the heels of news that 5-year client Old Navy was parting ways with Crispin Porter + Bogusky, the agency on Thursday announced it was laying off 21 employees.
“This has been a great year for CP+B in many ways,” said CEO Andrew Keller, by way of announcing the cuts. “However, as is often the case in our industry when a significant piece of business is lost, we must reevaluate our structure and make certain adjustments. Today that means eliminating 21 positions (less than 3 percent) of our staff.”
“As we all know, saying goodbye to colleagues and friends is probably the most difficult part of this business and we take it very seriously,” Keller added. “Hopefully we will welcome some of them back again. And in the meantime, we are confident that the steps we are taking today will allow us to both meet and exceed the needs of our clients and of our employees. Which is the key to the long term success and growth of CP+B.”
Old Navy spends more than $200 million a year on media, per Kantar estimates. The Gap-owned brand hired Crispin Porter + Bogusky as its lead agency in 2008.
The retailer has no immediate plans to hire another lead agency to replace Crispin.