Qantas and Telstra loss leads to 15 retrenched at Ogilvy including creative director Andrew Ostrom
In the wake of revenue losses from Qantas and Telstra, Ogilvy & Mather Sydney has made around 15 staffers redundant, most notably creative director Andrew Ostrom (left), who joined the agency in November 2010 and creative Simon McGrath, who last month was awarded the Sydney Water and Environmental Prize for his sculpture in this year’s Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi exhibition.
CB hears that none of those made redundant actually worked on the Telstra or Qantas accounts.
Ostrom is the latest in a line of creative departures – including former ECD Chris Ford and head of digital Chris James, both in May this year – since the arrival of executive chairman Tom Moult late last year.
When asked to comment, Ostrom seemed relieved to be out of there, saying just one word: “Hallelujah!”
Ostrom’s departure comes a few days after the appointment of Michael Raso to group creative director and head of art, who is good friends (from their time in New York) with Ford’s replacement Brett Howlett (left), who came on board back in August.
57 Comments
Photos from happier days.
Ogilvy is.. was.. and always will be.
Chris Ford and his creative hires created the Coke “names on cans” campaign which has been Coke Australia’s most successful campaign ever. Hope the new gang can do something equally as brilliant.
Don’t take it so hard Ossie.
It’s a brutal industry that does not reward a bad career move.
Poor Ogilvy. It seems they are Moulting staff left, right and through-the-line.
Ozzie is one-of-a-kind. You’re free now, all the best mate.
Ogilvy PR Simon McGrath’s amazing work outside of the industry as their own, and then retrench him?
I forgive Ogilvy for they know not what they are doing.
Is Boris still there?
he is too good for that place.
Ossie, at least you’re moving forward again!
There is a job going at Razzamataz. But they trow bread rolls at award shows. If you can forgive them for that then give them a call.
Who’s Razzamatazz? Fancy Darlo bakery?
Time to start an agency fellas and do it the way you want it to be done. Never been a better time and guaranteed you’d be able to win a lot of business on the back of Coke.
Who’s Razzamatazz? Fancy Darlo bakery?
Nobody that left recently (including Ozzie) worked on the Coke campaign.
I was there. Now I am not. And I won’t lie, it’s a great feeling. But even though it was a pretty miserable place to work, there are some awesome people there trying really hard to make it better. It’s an uphill battle but I wish them the best. And by the way, the comments re Ogilvy on this blog are pretty dispiriting to anyone stuck there.
BUNCH OF FUCKING MONKEYS
3.43, Interested to know what makes the Coke Names on Cans thing their most successful campaign ever?
I’ve worked with Andrew Ostrom in a creative capacity. In my opinion he is talented in the true sense of the word. he’s a conceptual person through and through and i’m sure he’ll do well at whatever he chooses to.
Hey 9.34pm…. Great comment! Another bunch of fucking monkeys just won agency of the year, so maybe it’s a sign of good things to come at Ogilvy. There are lots of good people there, who are passionate and work hard (just like there are in every agency), and they are due some wins.
And drooling Banjo began circling KFC….
Looks like the brave new world at ogilvy died as soon as that welsh bloke got canned.
I’m sorry but that name on coke cans idea is shit.
I don’t care what anybody says. It is advertising’s equivalent of buying shit mini name license plates at LAX for $1. Seriously…..seriously come on. Innovation is printing a whole bunch of popular names on a can? Leave me alone. Maybe they should print one that says FIRED and another that says DOUCHE BAG.
Razzamatz is a Perth shop. Picking up local metal. Looking for some new talent. Will be the shop to watch in 2012.
Ogilvy will never be able to hold onto good creative talent unless they’ve gone there to retire.
Lok at Chris Ford’s book and then look at Brett Howlett’s book and it’s easy to see where Ogilvy is heading…again.
Fuck…. getting retrenched is fucked enough.
Getting retrenched from Ogilvy… holy shit.
Good luck to Ossie, he’s a top notch creative and great all-around bloke.
To Bewildered:
Get a clue. Our job in advertising is to help clients make money while upping brand loyalty and participation. The campaign has sold a ton of Cokes, gotten a lot of buzz all over social media and has been talked about by people of all ages all over Australia. I didn’t even work on it and I wish I had. In fact, I find it annoying now because that’s all I see on my f-ing Facebook feed. And it’s as simple as it gets.
Melbourne too on the cull. Waiting for Officeworks to leave so those fat cats can reflect on that loss along with Telstra and QANTAS.
Get serious. They convince one of the biggest brand names in the world to take their name of their product and replace it with the consumer’s name and you don’t think that’s a big idea? Get back to your brochure.
@Bewildered: If you can’t see merit in a campaign that has sold more of a client’s product than ever before, you’re in the wrong business. I don’t work at Ogilvy, but I’ve seen many people uploading pictures of their friends names on cans to Facebook. The can didn’t ask them to do that, it was just an idea that connected with people. I’d be very surprised if it doesn’t win a lot of metal.
Go back to doing clever print ads that nobody but ad people care about and let Ogilvy take credit for the only good thing they’ve done in ages.
‘bewildered’ just showed how fucking stupid he is.
rest easy, you’ll never work.
Can not think of a better way to spend a summer than out of Ogilvy and under the Sydney sun. And, by the way, if the latest hirings from the top down are any indication, Ogilvy will remain the most stale, old-fashioned agency network for years to come. No real change in there from Singo’s time I’m afraid.
Cokes names was effing rad, it’s ideas like that, that make me bitch slap myself thinking why didn’t I come up with it?
Sadly though winning one battle doesn’t win you a war, and too much average guff has come from ogilvy for to long.
All the best Ossie, you’ll get the freedom to produce some cool shit for a real creative agency.
To echo an earlier comment, is Boris still there?
What makes your bitter, bitchy comments so laughable is how they demonstrate your complete lack of understanding of what good work looks like.
I feel sorry for your employer. And your clients.
yeah he’s here. He’s Ogilvy’s best suit.
Is the rumour about a move to Razzamataz true?
Boris is still there.
“… by the way, the comments re Ogilvy on this blog are pretty dispiriting to anyone stuck there.”
The use of the word “stuck” in the above sentence would also be pretty dispiriting to anyone stuck there, I’d think.
History repeats itself again and again. The wheel goes round and round. Agencies like O&M or Ogilvy or whatever it’s called this week live permanently in deja vu land. So do Y&R and McCanns. I’ve been watching for over 30 years and nothing ever changes. Nice career move, Tom.
Come on TOM – make a comment.
what’s the word on Melbourne’s situation.
A response like ‘halelujah’ says to me that he was waiting to be fired. So if this Andrew guy is so good and was so unhappy to work at Ogilvy, why didn’t he just leave??? Or is he not as hireable as the hype would have us believe?
Ogilvy needs to learn to retain an ECD and Senior Management for longer than a blink of an eye. Once they can do that, then just maybe they will be able to have a long term company vision.
But until that time comes, we will continue to see every new Tom, Dick and Harry hire and fire to suit their own personal, short terms agendas.
ex Ogilvy has summed it up perfectly
The personal agendas are toxic. I was there in 09 and witnessed it for myself.
There’s an underlying ugliness, poison – whatever you want to call it but it’s insidious and those responsible for it are all still there. THIS IS FACT
Ogilvy top brass, if you really care about your brand you should make a comment.
Hey guys, just a quick shout out to mark taliis
The ‘hallelujah” comment is the equivalent of falling over and saying “I meant to do that”. Trying to suggest he wanted to be fired, but as pointed out why not just leave? Also your article calls it a departure – he didn’t depart, he was retrenched. Call a spade a spade.
Remember that scene from Jurassic Park where the cow is lowered into the raptor pit? That’s what this blog is. To the haters, eat it . To the creators, don’t stop rockin. Especially oz and simon.
Humble words from a fully sick mate.
10:09 wrote:
I agree. It is a nasty culture that chews people up. It’s the same all over the region. Ogilvy Singapore is a snake-pit as well.
It’s a great brand that has a lot of great brands as clients. Sadly most of its ‘leaders’ are just in it for the bucks. It is a selfish culture that retrenches the good people, lets their best talent walk and retains hacks. How many CDs and ECDs have to exit before someone realises the new direction is no direction.
Singapore is screwed! Their 2012 revenue is in the crappers-nice one SM!
They got bullies and their bitches running amok, pissing clients off and losing businesses.
No wonder their creative stars are jumping ship and showing their books.
I like baked beans. A lot.
Qantas and Telstra exodus is just the beginning.
It’s not only the employees who have had a gut full.
@Bill Withered:
If you knew Oz you’d know he hated every minute of it there. ON YOUR BIKE, OGILVY SUIT.