Agency says it’s strong, but 2012 may be tough road for Vancouver shops
DDB Canada has laid off 16 employees.
Dave Leonard, DDB president and COO, said the layoffs are due to changing client needs. He said no accounts have been lost.
The Vancouver office was the hardest hit, losing 10 positions and leaving the agency with 115 staffers. Toronto lost six employees and now has a total of 126 positions. There were no layoffs in Edmonton.
The lost positions are all junior- to mid-level and in traditional advertising positions such as production and account management, said Leonard.
However, DDB is currently hiring five mid-level digital positions (one will be in Vancouver) and a senior-level national new business position that will be based in Toronto. These are part of a block of 18 positions (mostly digital) the agency created last year following a series of clients wins – which include McDonald’s national digital AOR, Canadian Tire digital, seven new brands for Johnson & Johnson (digital) and AutoTrader.ca – that all require more digitally minded job skills.
“As you’ve seen with some other shops, things are changing and there are massive shifts in what the needs are,” he said. “We’re moving people out of some of the more conventional streams and pushing people into digital and social.”
Leonard said digital and social now comprise about 30% of all DDB Canada’s work – up from about 20% just 12 months ago.
“We are not afraid to make the change,” said Leonard, “If we don’t make it, clients are going to find other answers, so we’ve just had to look at the work and the scope and modify how we are set up.”
Overall, it’s been a tough 12 months for Vancouver shops. TBWA\Vancouver was forced into creditor protection last February, Rethink laid off about a quarter of its Vancouver workforce last April and Dare Vancouver laid off 11 employees in July.
Citing the change in the composition of clients, the competitiveness in the market and the anxiety that clients are experiencing due to economic pressures, Leonard said he expects 2012 will be a challenging year for advertising agencies.
