The end of the road for Saatchi DGS


It's curtains for SaatchiDGS less than two years after its launch, as the final letter in the trio confirms he's leaving. 

Tony Gardner, the last of the founding partners of Saatchi & Saatchi's much-hyped digital business unit, led the charge after six years working in advertising and digital roles in Australia, Asia and Europe.

Aaron Dustin left last year and Matt Shirtcliffe recently announced his departure.

"I've been lucky enough to work at Saatchis twice now, first for seven years in the 90s in Wellingon, learning from the likes of James Hall, Kim Thorp, Kate Smith and Geoff Ross," Mr Gardner said.

"And this time to draw on my advertising and digital experience and past Saatchi learnings, to build a genuine digital capability in the agency. I'm delighted by what the team achieved."

Mr Gardner will continue to work with Saatchis through this month on several key projects. He told NBR he isn't sure what will come next but has been in some early conversations and is "surprisingly excited".

Mr Gardner, as chairman of the CAANZ Digital Leadership Group, has been a strong industry voice for digital.

Saatchi DGS has been the victim of the redundancy stick before. In October 2008, a handful of staff took redundancy rather than alternate roles after their positions were "disestablished" due to "upskilling".

Saatchi CEO Nicky Bell has confirmed the changes via a statement, which announces the disestablishment of three executive positions.

MD Sonya Berrigan will also leave along with Mr Shirtcliffe and Mr Gardner.

Ms Bell said the move is aimed at "removing silos between disciplines and flattening hierarchies to better enable the development and delivery of ground-breaking ideas for clients and consumers." 

She said the changes are difficult but necessary. The move means senior account leaders now report directly to Ms Bell and creative reports to ECD Dylan Harrison.

She said the process of the disestablishment has been good for the agency, allowing it to take an objective look at where it stands in the world.

"While this has resulted in very difficult decisions for several people, we’re confident the changes will benefit our clients’ brands and services, and the wider Saatchi & Saatchi team over the longer term."

A Sweeney Vesty spokesperson said Ms Bell is unable to comment further on the matter, as it is an employment issue.

Insiders say redundancies within the agency were timely, with some staff set to resign, before being called in to "talk about their future".

"They were happy to take the money," Mr X said.

"Some people have been wondering why Saatchis hasn't culled staff already, but they might've been waiting for a big account win before they reshuffled.

"Winning Sanitarium has basically opened the door to move staff around as they like. They've been overstaffed for their billings for some time."

Another insider said the DGS disestablishment doesn’t come as a surprise.

“Digital isn’t separate any more and hasn’t been for some time. Having a stand-alone unit for digital isn’t really helping the agency, and once Dustin went, the writing was on the wall.”

Ms Berrigan's next move is unknown, but sources say she'll be snapped up quickly.