Saatchi & Saatchi Chairman Kevin Roberts to Resign: ‘I Failed Exceptionally Fast’

Publicis announced this morning that Saatchi & Saatchi executive chairman and Publicis Groupe head coach Kevin Roberts will resign as of September 1 — ahead of his previously scheduled May 1, 2017 retirement.

Roberts had been placed on a leave of absence following a Business Insider interview in which he made controversial comments regarding gender diversity issues. He told Lara O’Reilly saying “The fucking debate is all over” and he sees no need to spend “any time” worrying about gender diversity at his agencies. He also dismissed those who spend time campaigning over the issue, taking aim at Cindy Gallop specifically as having “problems that are of her own making.”

The press release from Publicis read simply:

“Publicis Groupe announced today the resignation of Kevin Roberts Head Coach de Publicis Groupe, Executive Chairman of Saatchi & Saatchi/Fallon, Member of the Management Board. The Supervisory Board and the Chairman and CEO of Publicis Groupe took note of Kevin Robert’s decision to step down with effect from September 1st 2016, prior to his retirement date due in May 2017.”

Roberts’ PR firm released his own statement to media in which he apologized for the “upset and offence” caused by his “miscommunication on a number of points.” Here’s the statement in full: 

“Fail Fast, Fix Fast, Learn Fast” is a leadership maxim I advocate.

When discussing with Business Insider evolving career priorities and new ways of work/life integration, I failed exceptionally fast.

My miscommunication on a number of points has caused upset and offence, and for this I am sorry.
I have inadvertently embarrassed Saatchi & Saatchi and Publicis Groupe, two companies I love and have been devoted to for almost 20 years.

I have expressed my regret and apology to the companies for the furor my remarks and language stimulated, and I extend this to colleagues, staff and clients.

So that we can all move forward, I am bringing forward my May 1, 2017, retirement from the company, and will leave the Groupe onSeptember 1, 2016.

There is a lot of learning to reflect on, and within the thousands of tweets, comments and articles there are many powerful and passionate contributions on the changing nature of the workplace, the work we do, what success really looks like, and what companies must do to provide women and men the optimal frameworks in which to flourish.

I believe that new thinking, frameworks and measures are needed to make more rapid progress on diversity in all its forms, in all professions and occupations. Hopefully, the focus on this serious and complex issue will gather momentum.

Cindy Gallop, who Roberts mentioned directly, released her own statement to Business Insider in response to the news of Roberts’ resignation. She claims Publicis could have made a greater statement to the women it employs if it had fired Roberts but says she anticipates greater change moving forward.

Gallop’s statement in full:

I’m pleased to see that Kevin Roberts has resigned, given that his comments made him non-credible as a chairman charged with inspiring, motivating and promoting into leadership the thousands of women who work for Saatchi and Saatchi Worldwide; as a coach charged with training and developing the industry leaders of the future; and a leader whom huge clients selling brands. products and services to millions of women trust with their own brand reputation, communication and sales.

However, given he was forced to resign, PublicisGroupe would have made a far greater statement to every woman working within their network, at every client brand they represent, and to the industry as a whole, if they had fired him.

I look forward to Maurice Levy and Publicis Groupe now spearheading a very dramatic seachange in the way the white male leadership of our industry welcomes women and people of color up to the leadership ranks shoulder to shoulder with them, and to seeing tangible, visible action on their part in the coming weeks. Starting with Maurice Levy attending and speaking at the 3PercentConference in NYC this Nov 3/4 (where I will also be speaking) – the perfect platform to address the female talent and creativity in our industry and demonstrate how much he values it.

Some context for the interview that led to this imbroglio: O’Reilly declined to speak to us about it directly, but we hear that a PR firm that represents Roberts as a client (but has no relation to the Saatchi or Publicis organizations) set up the meeting when Roberts happened to be in London last month.

This interview was more about promoting Roberts as a thought leader than discussing any of his work or future plans for Saatchi & Saatchi/Publicis Groupe. During the same session, O’Reilly asked him to comment on the current U.S. presidential election; he noted that Donald Trump has a simple and effective slogan and said that Hillary Clinton is “bereft of a selling line … bereft of a dream.”

There do not appear to have been any PR professionals in attendance during the interview. Otherwise someone surely would have told Roberts to either avoid the issue of gender equality altogether or to stop while he was ahead.

It’s not clear at this time whether Saatchi & Saatchi plans to name a successor.

Publicis Places Saatchi Chairman Kevin Roberts on Leave of Absence Over Diversity Comments

A quick summary of the weekend’s events surrounding Saatchi & Saatchi global chairman Kevin Roberts, in case you missed it:

On Friday, we wrote about Roberts’ London interview with Kara O’Reilly of Business Insider. In that conversation, he made some controversial statements about gender issues in advertising, essentially saying diversity in terms of male/female leadership was no longer an issue and that he doesn’t spend “any time” on such matters at his agencies. In his own words, “The fucking debate is all over.”

He went on to dismiss some who campaign on the issue, listing Cindy Gallop in particular as having “problems that are of her own making.”

Various parties seemed thoroughly unimpressed by his comments, and the situation escalated quickly.

Early Saturday morning — after the BI post ran and we aggregated it — Publicis Groupe CEO Maurice Levy sent an email to Campaign in which he wrote: “The opinion expressed by Kevin is neither shared nor supported by myself or the Groupe. It is his own, expressed in his unique and provocative way and does not reflect the Groupe opinion or policy.”

Kat Gordon of the 3 Percent Conference then told Adweek that her group’s own research disproves Roberts’ points, stating, “I can say with complete statistical backup that Mr. Roberts is wrong about gender bias being solved in the ad world.”

12 hours later, Roberts was pushed out of his position — at least temporarily. On Saturday evening, Publicis PR sent a statement to Adweek and others about the decision, explaining how Publicis Groupe Chairman & CEO, Maurice Lévy had also sent out an internal memo distancing himself from Roberts comments and reiterating the holding company’s “no-tolerance policy towards behavior or commentary counter to the spirit of Publicis Groupe” and its commitment to diversity. Roberts’ long-term future with Publicis and Saatchi & Saatchi will ultimately be determined by the Publicis Groupe Supervisory Board. 

Adweek then reported that Saatchi & Saatchi CEO Robert Senior also released a statement disavowing Roberts’ comments. “Kevin has given what are his personal views on the subject of gender diversity. However, those views are not mine, and nor are they the position of the agency,” he said. 

“Saatchi & Saatchi is, and has always been, a meritocracy. We live and die by our people, our talent, and it makes no difference to us whether that talent is male or female,” he continued, adding that 65 percent of the agency’s staff are female, including senior leadership roles.

“However, the issue of gender diversity is not in any way over for our industry. It is live, emotive and vital for the communications business that we continue to insist that the best people, whatever their gender, are able to achieve their potential,” he added. This is what we strive for at Saatchi & Saatchi, and is what we will continue to strive for alongside all of the best agencies in our industry.”?

Mr. Roberts himself has yet to make a comment on this story.

Here’s Publicis Groupe’s full statement:

Following the comments made by Saatchi & Saatchi Executive Chairman and Publicis Groupe Head Coach, Kevin Roberts, in a recent interview with Business Insider, Publicis Groupe Chairman & CEO, Maurice Lévy addressed a statement internally to all Publicis Groupe employees to reiterate the Groupe’s no-tolerance policy towards behavior or commentary counter to the spirit of Publicis Groupe and its celebration of difference as captured in the motto Viva la Difference!

It is for the gravity of these statements that Kevin Roberts has been asked to take a leave of absence from Publicis Groupe effective immediately. As a member of The Directoire, it will ultimately be the Publicis Groupe Supervisory Board’s duty to further evaluate his standing.

Diversity & inclusion are business imperatives on which Publicis Groupe will not negotiate. While fostering a work environment that is inclusive of all talent is a collective responsibility, it is leadership’s job to nurture the career aspirations and goals of all our talent.

Promoting gender equality starts at the top and the Groupe will not tolerate anyone speaking for our organization who does not value the importance of inclusion. Publicis Groupe works very hard to champion diversity and will continue to insist that each agency’s leadership be champions of both diversity and inclusion.

Saatchi Chairman Kevin Roberts Tells Cindy Gallop ‘She’s Got Problems That Are of Her Own Making’

Saatchi & Saatchi chairman Kevin Roberts told Business Insider that the gender diversity debate is over.

The publication pointed out that all six holding company CEOs are male and that while 46.4 percent of the ad industry is female, only 11.5 percent of creative directors are (a number up from the 3 percent figure that gave The 3% Conference its name when it was created in 2010). When Business Insider suggested that the gender diversity debate continues in the industry, Roberts responded, “Not in my view.” 

The publication brought up the 11.5% figure, as well as recent discrimination lawsuits, such as the one filed against former JWT CEO and chairman Gustavo Martinez by global chief communications officer Erin Johnson or the one alleging former RAPP CEO Alexei Orlov referred to various women as “fat cows” and declined to promote a female executive because she was “too pretty” (amongst other charges).

Edward de Bono [Maltese physician, psychologist, and author] once told me there is no point in being brilliant at the wrong thing — the fucking debate is all over,” Roberts said. “This is a diverse world, we are in a world where we need, like we’ve never needed before, integration, collaboration, connectivity, and creativity … this will be reflected in the way the Groupe is.”

Publicis Groupe employs around 50 percent women, Saatchi & Saatchi around 65 percent.

When asked specifically about women like Cindy Gallop calling attention to ongoing gender issues in the industry, Roberts said, “I think she’s got problems that are of her own making. I think she’s making up a lot of the stuff to create a profile, and to take applause, and to get on a soap[box].”

Gallop responded by saying, “The best response to that is to throw it open to the industry, and ask the women and men of the ad industry, all around the world, to tweet at @krconnect to let him know whether they think I’m ‘making it all up’.”

Gallop has since tweeted about Roberts’ interview with a series of statements, including quoting a Facebook post from William Charnock, who said, “‘Issue is all over’ feels like a Donald Trump-ism – dismissive, insensitive, inaccurate.”

Plenty of other ad folks, meanwhile, have taken up Gallop’s call to tweet a piece of their mind at Roberts.

Chris Foster Joins Publicis as Senior Vice President, Global Clients

CEO Out at Publicis Hawkeye

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Just over a year ago, Publicis Groupe acquired Hawkeye, the Dallas-based digital agency founded by Steve Dapper in 2000. At the time, the purchase was framed as an attempt by Publicis to move deeper into “data analytics, digital strategy, CRM and experiential marketing.”

Today we learned that Sally Kennedy, who served as CEO of Publicis Dallas and subsequently held the same title at Publicis Hawkeye after the acquisition, will be leaving the agency.

Kennedy, who spent three and a half years as president of Cossette New York before moving to Texas in 2011 and proposed the merger to Dapper in the first place, has been pushed out. Dapper will hold both the chairman and chief executive titles effective immediately.

Here’s the statement from Publicis:

“Just over a year ago we announced Publicis Hawkeye, the result of the merger of hawkeye and Publicis Dallas. The agency has been integrating across services, skill-sets and clients, and is now poised for final integration under the one leadership of Steve Dapper, chairman. We wish Sally Kennedy much continued success as she moves on.”

Throughout a more-than-thirty-year career in advertising, Dapper has held leadership positions with several different agencies owned by different holding companies: he was president/CEO of Wunderman/Y&R for more than a decade, served in the same role for Omnicom’s Rapp Collins for nearly as long, and held various executive positions at the Direct Marketing Association before founding Hawkeye and joining the Publicis fold last year.

Kennedy also spent several years with Y&R, serving as SVP/marketing in the agency’s San Francisco office and CMO of the larger North American organization before leaving for Cossette in 2007.

No word on her future plans.

Publicis (Finally) Completes Sapient Acquisition

publicis sapient

Today in Super-Long Press Releases news, Le Vieux Publicis Groupe finally announced the approval of its $3.7 billion acquisition of the Sapient organization.

After yet another postponement last month, executives held true on their promise to finalize the deal by noon yesterday, Paris time. From the keyboard of Monsieur Levy himself:

“This deal dramatically sharpens Publicis Groupe’s profile, establishing us as a leader in Marketing, Communication and Business Transformation. Sapient’s marketing, technology and consulting capabilities, its strength in India combined with Publicis Groupe’s global presence, depth in creative, leadership in media, and digital will create a world leader with unmatched capabilities.

Our clients are facing many adverse trends: from rising global competition, to new comers born from digital, and new paradigms in communications and marketing. With our new capabilities, we will be best positioned to help them transform their businesses and navigate the new world. Alan and his teams will bring tremendous talents to Publicis Groupe. I am extremely happy to have them on board, and very confident for our shared future.”

The release goes on to call the deal “truly transformative,” labeling it “the largest and most strategic of its kind in the industry.” The most significant aspect of the new partnership, Publicis claims, is the holding company’s newfound ability to provide clients with a “more connected offering.”

Alan J. Herrick, former Sapient CEO/co-chairman who is now CEO of Sapient.Publicis, gets a bit more excited:

“The combination of our two companies and the creation of the Publicis.Sapient platform together create the most transformational offering in the market. No one is even close.”

In short, everyone at SapientNitro, Razorfish Global, Rosetta, and DigitasLBi now officially has a new boss. The release further clarifies that “most importantly,” the deal will be a boon to shareholders. But what about employees?

“Both Publicis Groupe and Sapient employ the most talented and ambitious people in our industry,” and they will now have access to “a wealth of resources and opportunities.”

Brace yourself for staffing changes.

Publicis/Sapient Deal Postponed…Again

The acquisition of the Sapient organization by Publicis Groupe, which first made headlines back in November, has hit yet another rough patch.

According to this morning’s press release from Paris, the $3.7 billion offer will now expire at noon, EST on February 5th “unless it is further extended.” Hardly definitive.

Publicis has given no particular reason for this latest delay; the previous stall was attributed to complications stemming from Sapient’s relationships with United States government entities and the added scrutiny that comes with such deals.

Publicis’ own shareholders may well be part of the holdup as the Groupe agreed to pay 150 percent of Sapient’s current market value per share despite the fact that analysts at the time said the deal would add “little” to the overall value of the organization.

Sources within Sapient weren’t so fond of the idea, either: a reader told us in November that many employees were “taken aback” by a deal that seemed to directly contradict Sapient’s desire to be “the anti-holding company.”

Two major staffing changes are now on hold as well: Sapient CEO/Co-Chairman Alan J. Herrick would be CEO of the new Sapient.Publicis organization and Chairman/Co-Founder Jerry A. Greenberg would ascend to a spot on the Groupe’s advisory board.

No word on the odds of this deal going the way of Publicis/Omnicom. We’ll find out next month.

Publicis to Drop $3.7 Billion on Sapient

Sapient Logo

In case you missed it yesterday, Publicis Groupe attempted to make up for its own performance issues over the weekend by snapping up Sapient for $3.7 billion in cold cash (and so close to Christmas, too!).

It’s true that these talks could fall through just as the Publicis/Omnicom merger did last year, but for now it seems that the next phase in the group’s “transformation into a digital-technology company” will indeed go through this week.

As a reader put it this morning, “Idea engineers own the ad industry” — and Publicis is very interested in engineering as many ideas as possible. Moving forward, does this mean less focus on the work and more on the data behind it?

So far, the move has been good for business: USA Today notes that Sapient stock rose more than 40% this morning, largely because Publicis agreed to pay nearly 150 percent of each share’s most recent value.

(more…)

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Samsung (Mostly) Sticking with Publicis

samsung storeSamsung’s global review is over, and the news from AdAge isn’t much of a revelation: the company is sticking with Publicis. For the most part.

The significant part of the story imparted by “people familiar with the review” who didn’t talk to us is that the company added W+K and BBH to its very large agency roster — and that Leo Burnett retained its creative duties despite a challenge from Grey.

We didn’t get any tips on this one, and the lips of all related parties were sealed:

“Wieden & Kennedy, BBH and Starcom did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Leo Burnett declined to comment. Representatives from Samsung in South Korea and the U.S. did not return requests for comment.”

It’s been a slow week for tips with Advertising Week occupying everyone’s attention here in New York, but we’re impressed that people made so little noise about the future of such a big account.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Ad Spending Surpasses Pre-Recession Numbers of $109B

When the recession hit America with a huge thud, big business began to reconsider its residual income and closed up the budgets. Of course this hurt advertising agencies in a big way and many experts thought they would never recover, but this article from AdAge seems to contradict the naysayers once and for all.

Total spending among the 100 Leading National Advertisers (LNA) reached a record $108.6 billion in 2013, passing the previous spending peak set in pre-recession 2007.

Quick, call your clients…

(more…)

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

There’s a New Spark at Starbucks After Agency RFI

In what appears to be a clandestine RFI process, Starbucks has announced a changing of the guard in its media agency relationship.
Following only the first phase in review, the java giant has decided to cut ties with Omnicom PHD and hire Publicis Groupe’s Spark. Prior to the RFI and decision after the initial review, PHD was Starbucks’ media agency for the past six years.
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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

The Truth Comes Out: Omnicom-Publicis Merger Was Actually a Zany Agency Prank

In the weeks since the Omnicom and Publicis Groupe megamerger fell apart, many have been asking why such a problematic union was proposed in the first place. Well now we know: It was all another agency's elaborate marketing stunt.

In an entertaining parody case study, Fred & Farid Group takes full credit for the "Omnipub" merger, an idea hatched to highlight just how far holding companies would go in their quest for world domination.

"Why not organize an epic fail with two giants? Instead of the usual David against Goliath, we made a Goliath against Goliath story. We created … 'The Impossible Wedding.'"

Setting events in motion like a Shakespearean villain, Paris-based Fred & Farid says it forged letters between Omnicom CEO John Wren and Publicis CEO Maurice Lévy, making each think the other was on board with the merger. Then the pranksters sat back and watched the hilarity ensue.

Like any good case study, #Omnipub includes some impressive metrics: 24,000 mentions, 500,000 media impressions and $100 million in wasted fees (quoted from our own coverage here at Adweek). 

So congrats to Fred & Farid for pulling off one truly epic viral prank. You got us!




DealBook: Collapse of Ad Giants’ Merger Deals Blow to Moelis

When the $35 billion merger of Publicis and Omnicom was announced, it served as a showcase for the rise of boutique investment banks like Moelis & Company. Now, the deal will cost Moelis in more ways than one.



Ad Agencies Dust Off and Focus on Future After Collapse of Merger Deal

Cultural difference and legal problems are issues at the heart of the collapse of the Publicis-Omnicom deal.

Publicis/Omnicom: An Autopsy

The world’s largest mega-merger is over before it began–and on the morning after the big breakdown, we have a fairly clear sense of the factors that doomed this would-be deal.

The Wall Street Journal broke the news last night with a joint statement from Messrs. Levy and Wren, who called the uncoupling conscious:
“The challenges that still remained to be overcome, in addition to the slow pace of progress, created a level of uncertainty detrimental to the interests of both groups.”
Their stories quickly and predictably diverged, however.

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

DealBook: At Odds, Omnicom and Publicis End Merger

Clashing personalities, disagreements over how the companies would be integrated and complications over legal and tax issues have derailed the deal between Omnicom and Publicis.



Publicis Groupe Wants to Manage Your Phone Plan

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…or something like that

Here’s a very curious tip we received from at least one source at Razorfish: employees are now required to use parent company Publicis Groupe‘s phone plan to access all work emails and calendars.

Essentially, the message is: “If you like your plan, you can keep your plan…unless you want to do work stuff. Then you’re gonna need either a new corporate plan or a new phone.”

Full email after the jump.

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

R/GA New York Hires Robyn Tombacher as SVP

tomacherThis week R/GA announced a new addition to its New York office: Robyn Tombacher will serve as SVP of business operations, global capacities.

Before joining R/GA, Tombacher spent twelve years with DigitasLBi and Publicis Groupe. Her most recent role was global operations director; she oversaw staffers at four internal agencies and also served as one of the founding members of Digitas Health and VIVA Women. Her specialties include “reducing agency and client inefficiency and establishing new models for collaboration and delivery.”

R/GA COO Stephen Plumlee writes:

“Her unique blend of expertise overseeing operations on a global scale will ensure that our capabilities are fully utilized to serve both new and existing clients.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Rosetta Confirms Cuts

rosetta_logo

We’ve seen your tips and confirmed that New York’s Rosetta, or “Publicis Groupe’s customer engagement agency”, did indeed lay off a number of staffers across its North American practice yesterday.

Here’s the agency’s statement:

“As part of the growth and evolution of our business, we are sometimes forced to make adjustments to our staffing structure to align with current market needs. Some recent adjustments were made that impacted less than 5% of our North American staff. In order to meet increased market demand for our services, we are also adding new talent and capabilities to our staff.”

Given that this move follows the November hire of CCO Lars Bastholm and subsequent exit of ECD Dave McClain, we might call it a shakeup.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Advertising: Wendy’s Turns Up Volume on Adoption Drive

Wendy’s has long supported adoption, but now the company is putting it front and center with a national advertising campaign and an adoption hub on its website.