Publicis's Levy Promises No Job Cuts

Publicis CEO Maurice Levy made this astonishing assertion in a story in the UK’s Daily Telegraph:

Across 45,000 staff at agencies from Leo Burnett, Fallon and Saatchi to media buyers ZenithOptimedia and Starcom, he does not forsee job cuts.

That’s a bold promise, one that will be extremely difficult for him to keep. (Especially as 70 people at Digitas just got the chop.) BNET readers know that Levy promised “consolidation” at his agencies in order to deal with his already declining revenues. The Telegraph gently reminded Levy of his predicament:

General Motors, the near-bankrupt US carmaker, is an important account — indeed carmaking clients including Renault, Toyota and Fiat account for more than an estimated 10pc of revenue. So how will profits be affected when GM and others inevitably cut spend?

“GM has already started to cut back,” he says, with a smile and a laissez-faire shrug. “It is all part of the ups and downs that are going to happen in 2009.”

However, Mr Lévy, a man known for his silver tongue, can even put an optimistic spin on the worst slump the advertising world has seen for decades.

“It is depressing for people to see lay-offs and companies failing,” he says, relaxing on a sofa in his sprawling office complex that includes a cinema, restaurants, shops. “The thing the advertising world can do is give positive news.”

Well, yes, sure. I don’t think Levy is saying there will be no layoffs because he finds them depressing. Perhaps there will only be “consolidations” instead. That sounds much more positive than “layoffs.”

Note to reporters: Can we all get over the fact that Levy’s office has a nice view of the Arc de Triomphe? It’s mentioned in every story about Levy. This is Paris. A lot of buildings can see the Arc.

Image by Flickr user Word Economic Forum, CC.