Saatchi & Saatchi CEO and operations chief exit as global boss dismisses rumours famous brand will withdraw from Singapore
The chief executive and head of operations at Saatchi & Saatchi Singapore have left the agency as major changes at the newly formed Publicis Communications continue to unfold at a local level.
CEO Shannon Cullum and chief operations director Esther Yue, who have worked for the famous agency brand for 41 years combined, both left the agency at the same time. Their roles will not be replaced.
Cullum joined Saatchi in 2003 as regional director, while Yue has worked for the agency in two different stints, first from 1984 until 2009, and then from 2013.
Their departures come just a few months after Publicis Worldwide Singapore CEO Lou Dela Pena was appointed as local lead for Publicis Communications, a new unit that will oversee agency brands Leo Burnett, Saatchi & Saatchi as well as Publicis in this market.
Dela Pena is running Publicis Communications and is also in charge of the individual agency brands in Singapore.
The news also comes just a month after Chris Chiu, who re-joined Leo Burnett Singapore as CEO and chief creative officer just nine months ago, abruptly departed. His role will also not be replaced.
The formation of Publicis Communications, which was announced by Publicis Groupe at the start of the year as part of a major restructure of the company after the collapse of a proposed merger with Omnicom, has been billed as a move to remove silos and get clients closer to the work.
Singapore is one of the first markets globally to see the formation of Publicis Communications play out at a local level.
Meanwhile, rumours circulating the market that the Saatchi & Saatchi brand maybe withdrawn from the market altogether after a worryingly quiet few years for a once-great agency have been denied by the global CEO.
Robert Senior, the global head of Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide, told Mumbrella that this was categorically not happening in light of the recent management changes locally in Singapore.
“If anything the Saatchi brand will grow from strength to strength [in Singapore],” he wrote in an email.
Publicis Groupe fleshed out details of the formation of a new group for markets outside of the biggest top 20, branded Publicis One, last week. Nicolas Menat, president of Japan-based advertising agency Beacon Communications, is to lead Publicis One in APAC, while former Leo Burnett APAC boss Jarek Ziebinski is running the business globally.
Publicis named the regional boss of Zenith Optimedia, now known just as Zenith, Gerry Boyle, as head of the newly formed media unit Publicis Media earlier last month, although how the formation of Publicis Media will impact senior regional jobs at the individual agency brands remains unclear.
Cullum joined Saatchi & Saatchi in 2013 not 2003.
ReplyHi Eddie,
Cullum joined Saatchi’s in 2003 as regional director in APAC, then ran Russia as CEO, then Indonesia, and moved into the Singapore job in September 2014. He was with the business for a 13-year stint.
Cheers,
ReplyRobin – Mumbrella
What! Esther Yue too?? She has been a big force in the industry for so many years and everyone knows she is much loved within the Saatchi group. (Does she still have drinks in her office, like how she used to do at BBDO?) I wish her all the best, and hey it’s better than she escaped this brutal Game of Thrones now. Best wishes Esther, I’m sure you’ve left a big hole in Saatchi now.
ReplyThe sound of the firing squad is deafening.
ReplyWhat to say? Here we have an agency that in such deep shit because they used to focus so much on scam….no names…but we know all the scammers who used this place as a launchpad for their high flying present day careers.
The chickens are now coming home to roost…
Reply@Drew
Saatchi’s put Singapore on the advertising map. Call it scam if you want, but the last time Singapore was punching above its weight in the industry was during those Droga years.
Sounds a bit like sour grapes. Wishing you were a part of it perhaps?
Reply@history
ReplyYou sound like a scammer still living in the past.
Time to put away your old award annuals and fading issues of CampaignBriefAsia creative rankings.
2016 is knocking at the door.
@Back
Not quite a scammer mate, and you sound like you’re looking for an excuse as to why you never get the good briefs. Here’s a hint – they give them to the good teams.
Reply@History
ReplyYou assume I receive briefs.
Actually I give them out.
Try and see the world from higher up the food chain.
A number of agencies have been crushed by their misplaced focus on scam. The (flawed) thinking is, awards will up our profile and get us on pitch lists, helping us win more business. But how are you going to win more business pitches when you or your people have no experience on solving real problems well? When your ECDs and CCOs apply the same scam thinking to evaluate a winning idea?
Thankfully the age of social media and universal sharing has thrown a light on these cheats, where they can still survive in their cushy top dog CCO jobs, but they can’t take massive liberties as before. But their real work will always be sub standard and commonplace like any ordinary agency.
To the CEOs of agencies who haven’t yet met the fate of the agencies in question, this is a case study in how to court disaster…it’s not too late to look and learn.
Reply@Present Tense
ReplyWise words.
They will look but they will never learn.
That’s because scammers are opportunists and never think beyond an award cycle.
They seek to win awards and move on to another agency for more money, damn the damage or consequences to their current paymaster.
They choose to ‘hit and run’.
Not stay and build.
Who wants to stay and build? Look at Esther at Saatchi. Does loyalty beget you respect and recognition or a polite shove to the door? This industry is made up of substandard ass kissers (a certain recently promoted CEO in point) and people who live in the glory days where in their deluded heads, awards still matter to clients. Ads are now all about KPIs and performance, not about creativity. Clients do not have the budgets or inclination to do great work, it’s all about making their numbers and very often, about how “cost effective” an agency is. Staffing costs keep going up, budgets keep going down. How do you think this will affect the outlook for the industry? It isn’t looking good at all.Add to this, all the politics and backstabbing and in-fighting – who wants to be a part of this anymore?
ReplySigh.. another one bites the dust. Loyalty in the industry gets you no where sometimes. Best regards to Shannon and Esther, they were much loved by Saatchi folks.
ReplyNever had any real affection for this brand…was a huge scam factory for the most part.
Wont be surprised if they were to eventually leave.
Same goes for LB.
ReplyEsther Yue wasnt the last one to be cut.
ReplyIt can’t possibly be the GM, can it??
ReplyWell, rumour has it…
ReplyHave your say