Deutsch New York lays off a fifth of its staff

Deutsch New York is laying off 41 employees, Vonda LePage, the agency’s EVP and director of corporate communications, told Marketing Brew via email.

The layoffs will affect about 19% of its employees, according to Ad Age. The reduction largely stems from “economic realities” and the shop’s loss of PNC Bank’s account this summer to Arnold Worldwide, per the email.

The IPG-owned agency will shift to a business model that prioritizes “permalancers” for the purpose of “reshaping staff for 2024 with a tech-driven transformation approach versus a services only approach,” LePage told us. “While we’ve taken great pains to refocus existing resources, including the reduction of real estate costs, these are gut-wrenching actions but necessary for the health of our business,” a statement from the agency said.

Affected staffers will be employed until the end of the year, and will receive severance packages. According to LePage, Deutsch is helping affected employees find new positions.

Besides its current round of layoffs, Deutsch has undergone other staffing changes this year: In August, its CCO, Samira Ansari, left to join Ogilvy New York.

Deutsch is one of several agencies that have downsized this year. Stagwell laid off 300 employees in Q1, while GroupM laid off more than 100 staffers in January. IPG agencies R/GA and Huge also went through layoffs this year, after also making cuts in 2022.

Agency executives have also faced a shakeup: In May, Goodby Silverstein & Partners New York laid off executive creative directors David Suarez and Danny Gonzalez, who went on to form their own shop, Bandits & Friends. And in August, Former Dentsu Media Americas CEO Doug Rozen left the agency as part of a broader reorganization.