Ogilvy Singapore retrenches workers days after losing Singtel account

SINGAPORE — Advertising and public relations firm Ogilvy & Mather has laid off 20 out of about 400 employees in its Singapore office, due to an “ongoing review of talent and skill mix across the agency”, it said on Friday (April 7).

This came days after it lost a big account with telecommunications company Singtel, one of Singapore’s largest advertisers.

However, Ogilvy told TODAY that the layoffs were not because of the outcome of the Singtel pitch.

Mr Chris Riley, group chairman of Ogilvy & Mather Singapore, said: “We are constantly responding to changes in our industry, clients and skillset requirements, and look to making adjustments from time to time to our staffing plans.”

In line with that, the agency is looking to hire “across growth areas in social, user experience design, data and consulting, and are redeploying people to new and evolving roles within our company and wider network”, he said. The agency is doing all it can to help those affected by the retrenchment, he added.

Employees contacted by TODAY were tight-lipped on the shake-up.

On Monday, news went out that Singtel has appointed Bartle Bogle Hegarty Asia Pacific (Singapore) to lead its branding strategy — which is its biggest account — for the next two years. Ogilvy handled that account for the past four years and also Singtel’s digital account before that.

Mr Riley commented that the pitch was a “hard-fought” one, but took comfort in being assigned to handle Singtel’s business-to-business account this round.

“We appreciate Singtel’s continued confidence in our team (and) look forward to continuing our decade-long relationship and to evolving and growing as collaborators,” he said.