NEW YORK: Weber Shandwick Worldwide has unveiled its US line-up,
trimming brands and clarifying the agency's leadership structure
following its recent merger with True North's BSMG.
WSW has also simultaneously released projected staff numbers for 2001,
which reveal a tranche of staff cuts due to the technology industry
slowdown.
Following a meeting of around 200 of the agency's senior staff, WSW has
announced a line-up of ten key brands that will be maintained following
the merger, many of which will add the WSW moniker to their own. These
include Rogers & Cowan, Benjamin Group, Cassidy and Financial Relations
Board (FRB).
WSW chief executive Harris Diamond said: 'It's about being able to pull
together the intellectual capital from each area. However, we also had
to consider the value of brands such as Rogers & Cowan and FRB in
particular markets.'
US appointments include BSMG's Andy Polansky to be president and CEO of
the eastern states, and Barbara Molotsky to hold the same office for the
central states, and WSW's Tom Tardio to lead the western region.
The consumer practice will report to Molotsky, entertainment to Tardio,
and technology and healthcare to Polansky.
Donni Case, president of BSMG-owned FRB, will lead IR and report to
Polansky.
Former BSMG chief Joe Kessler has been re-hired to run the global tech
practice. BSMG's Laura Schoen will run global healthcare.
But, like other firms, WSW has also had to tackle the issue of staff
cuts.
In a WSW fact-sheet dated 27 February 2001, the agency stated it had
3,000 employees worldwide.
In recent PRWeek US agency rankings published earlier this year, BSMG
stated it had 1,092 employees.
The combined entity, however, will have around 3,000 employees, leaving
roughly 1,000 unaccounted for.
Diamond would not talk about specific numbers, but said that the merger
itself has resulted in staff cuts of less than five per cent.
Senior sources said the remaining reduction in staff numbers was due to
shrinking revenues in the tech and financial sectors.
