SYDNEY: M&C Saatchi is looking to hire the entire 30-strong Saatchi & Saatchi David Jones team in the wake of wrestling the $43 million account from the agency.
Paula Marreiros and Grant Morrell have already joined M&C Saatchi from Saatchi & Saatchi as general manager and creative services director, respectively, on the David Jones creative account.
The hiring initiative began when M&C Saatchi scooped the account from 13-year incumbent Saatchi & Saatchi in late July [AdNews.com.au, 23 July].
M&C Saatchi worldwide chairman Tom Dery and regional creative director Tom McFarlane invited Team Saatchi, which is made up of staff who exclusively serviced the David Jones account, to its offices for an orientation evening.
“We will need about thirty or forty people to service the David Jones account,” Dery said. “It is to everyone’s mutual benefit that we take the opportunity to interview people that otherwise might be displaced from the incumbent agency. This was done with the full knowledge and approval of Saatchi & Saatchi.”
Dery said M&C Saatchi will also be giving its own staff the opportunity to apply for positions within the agency, in addition to outside hires beyond the two agencies.
News of the move will heighten industry speculation that the David Jones pitch was procurement led in a bid to lower costs for the premium department store brand.
To find out more ready today's AdNews.
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