Awards show ignites row after creative Ted Royer given public platform to address misconduct claims
The former Saatchi & Saatchi Singapore creative, who was fired by Droga5 amid allegations of sexual misconduct, has addressed the London International Awards, in a controversial appearance that has seen ad agency FCB terminate an agreement with the award organisers.
FCB is reported as saying that a “recent presentation given at the LIA was deeply upsetting to some of our team in attendance” – a reference to the presentation by Ted Royer.
In addition, FCB said the “reaction and response by the LIA has been very disappointing and unsatisfactory”.
“We are therefore terminating our partnership with them,” the agency said.
Royer, who was accused by an anonymous post on an Instagram account in 2018, spoke in Las Vegas at the London International Awards’ Creative Liaisons, which nurtures rising advertising talent.
Explaining the reason for giving Royer a platform to speak, LIA founder and president Barbara Levy said: “We live in a country that has due process and laws that allow an accused the right to face their accuser.
“I do not believe that an anonymous social media platform that does not allow the accused to respond should be allowed to indict, try and convict anyone.”
According to AdAge, Royer told the audience that “I’m here because I believe in face-to-face communication and I don’t want to hide any more”.
He went on to discuss the findings of an investigation into the claims, where he had been “flippant”, “made jokes” and was “flirty”.
“I encouraged drinking and drug use,” he said. “And I believed the old creative douche bag rock star notion that you have to party really hard and do great work to be someone of notice in this industry. I certainly behaved selfishly and immaturely.”
He denied one specific allegation of “attacking a girl in the hallway of the agency, tagging my clients”.
“They made it very, very hard to defend myself … I’ve talked to hundreds of people afterwards and a lot of people remembered this story and believed this story … This story is not true. If it is true, it’s not about me at all. At all. I never did act like this. But this stuck. This stuck to me like glue.”
Royer’s D&AD profile says his 20-year advertising career has “taken him around the world”, “most notably to Singapore (where his work helped Saatchi & Saatchi, Singapore become International Agency of the Year)”.
Thumbs up FCB, thumbs down Ted Royer + LIA.
ReplyBy his own admission, he encouraged drug use and drinking and cultivated a douchebag lifestyle. That alone should earn him a prison sentence given Singapore’s strict drug laws. This is why agencies are doomed. This is the kind of toxic, personality and ego driven culture that is leading clients to move business in-house where you can judge individuals on competency instead of how friendly you are with them
ReplyGirls were crying and scared hiding in the toilets while The Joker walked on stage. Fuck you LIA for letting this happen to try and up your PR game. How many more women must you manipulate. Women again were [Edited under Mumbrella’s community guidelines] and forced to stay and listen to this fellow talk about himself? Take David Droga’s advice and stay clear of this mess. Nice surprise attack on the innocent, again Ted. It is so selfish of this man to come out and start saying he wants to talk to women face to face? Are you kidding me? You think we want you to get anywhere near you? Meet you face to face for what? The nerve of this man. Does anybody in the world think he talked to 100 women in a year in a half? 1 woman every 4 days was it? The math is stupid, he is [Edited under Mumbrella’s community guidelines] as hell and has no business on stage anywhere unless it is in [Edited under Mumbrella’s community guidelines]. Heard he almost derailed the Accentre deal. I wonder why Ted didn’t talk about that fat cheaque Droga gave him on the sale. He left the agency up retained his shares huh. Why doesn’t any reporter ask David Droga that when Droga is flying around flapping his gum. These boys are mates right. Disgusting. Shame on you Ted, and shame on LIA for enabling this fucking dumpster fire for profit. Every agency should boycott this show and so should their clients. Nice one FCB.
Reply????????????????????
ReplyI read the entire article outlining his presentation…I got a sense of
Replya scared and defeated guy who realises he isn’t going to
be offered work anywhere….for as long as the internet exists.
Watching him upfront in SG, he gave off that “im Droga’s boy” vibe.
I can’t describe that vibe because Mumbrella will edit it but it isn’t pleasant. He should consider himself vey lucky that he’s still [Edited under Mumbrella’s community guidelines].
I was there. Not scared and defeated at all. Still super cocky and sickening to watch.
ReplyNo scared, not defeated, still eating well, still flying First Class.
WINNING.
ReplyWhat irony that he was asked to speak at a conference titled
“Creative Liaisons”
[Edited under Mumbrella’s community guidelines] has lost her mind.
ReplyEeeyer. Stealth at a [Edited under Mumbrella’s community guidelines] marketing event in a tickety tack town. Imagine being in the audience looking for inspiration and this person turns up. Royer has always been that guy. [Edited under Mumbrella’s community guidelines]. Ask anyone who worked in Singapore at the same time as Royer and see if anyone is surprised. except the [Edited under Mumbrella’s community guidelines] course. He was infamous for being a super [Edited under Mumbrella’s community guidelines] dude to everyone young and female. But now he has lost his power and droga coat tails he is changed man? In his hostage presentation he denies some of the things said about him online. SOME….What an idiot. He also says after the law firm was brought in, several women came forward but he doesn’t know what they said. Does it even matter at that stage? If women are brave enough to come out of the shadows and talk to a lawyer at the risk of their entire career , things must have been far more than flirting and partying. which explains why they wanted it to be kept anonymous. Wanting to pass it off as old school behavior is flat-out egregious and tone deaf. He is NOT one of the victims in this. He had so much more than his fair share and he blew it. Of course all his powerful, successful, [Edited under Mumbrella’s community guidelines], 40 something buddies will rally around you, as they always do because they are confused and assume how is around them is how he was around vulnerable young girls. Nope. Get off stage Ted and go really help some people that doesn’t involve you getting back in the lime light. Only then can we take you seriously.
ReplyThis we adversely affect his chances on getting employed at FCB. Just saying.
ReplyWhatever you think of Ted, there are plenty of other douchebags who have gotten away with far worse (not that that excuses his or anyone’s behavior). But the problem here is how LIA sprung it on the young creatives and basically forced them to attend his session (from what I heard there was really no option to walk out without losing the reimbursement check). Again, we have a male creative in a position of power basically cornering young women in a room, and it was enabled by the woman who heads up LIA. What a disgrace.
ReplyDon’t take this as a defence for what has been alleged about this guy.
It’s not.
I’ve seen a young female creative walk up to a well known ECD in a bar. After some general banter, she leaned in close, with her breasts pressed into him and said: “—–, can I come over and show you my book?”
The answer, as you can guess, was an enthusiastic yes. After a little more chat and finishing their drinks, they left the bar hand in hand. I had no idea if they knew each other prior to meeting in the bar but I think it’s likely they did.
Anyway, the point is: these things only blow up when one of the parties is an unwilling participant. It has been going on for a very long time.
ReplyMen would do well to learn to read the signals being sent and not insert themselves into such unnecessary interactions.
I will meet you all FACE TO FACE!!!
ReplyLike most of the creatives that make their name through [Edited under Mumbrella’s community guidelines] ads before 2010 as well as being a less than acceptable human being, their roles are vanishing.
ReplyAnyone who’s mired in scandals like this is done, as far as I can tell.
Unless they start an agency called Alias.
Im more interested in knowing whether he received a huge amount of $$$ from D5 for leaving. 6 fig or 7 fig? Shine some light here please.
ReplyThe timing is quite right if you think about it, by the time he was [Edited under Mumbrella’s community guidelines]d out of the building the Accenture deal was already in motion. These deals can take a year to happen. Now just imagine the valuation of a company like Droga5. Perhaps, somebody heard about the deal inside and threatened to expose the agency. unless something was done. That would really be a big play. The employees preyed upon would be safe to return to work and their own reputations intact. Davey without a doubt asked him to just shut up and go quietly so Ted could then keep his shares and cash that cheque worth over 10 Million. Just don’t make noise until the deal is signed and the ink is dry. So he still wins my hangry little trolls. He didn’t quite look like Saddam coming out of a hole on stage did he. And no, he wasn’t really helping hundreds of female [Edited under Mumbrella’s community guidelines]. Still for some reason, he just had to get on stage with a raw Powerpoint pitch and scare the room half to death by threatening a face-to-face sit down.
ReplyIf anybody does take him up on this, please don’t go alone. Bring a lawyer, have some security in sight and do it at that coffee shop below Adweek. Sorry Teddy it was a little too early to try and take the poor unicorn by the horn.
Now that Ted has the Droga moola in the bank, I’d suggest to women to take up his offer for a sit down.
ReplyThen serve him his papers.
And get your share of the payout.
It is not that easy. Don’t say a word to this guy or write a word to this guy outside of your attorney. That email is a trap, as is the face to face. He’s had a year to plan this. I am sure Droga5 and Accenture already made deals with the women inside the agency. It is all too quit for comfort don’t you think? Water tight as we say. Nobody from the agency that has a story to tell is talking. Likely just promoted and given a bonus end last year to make it all nice. This is real business and a lot of fucking money was at stake. 200 Million!!!!!
ReplyHe admitted nothing in that talk. Not a thing except deny one of the most heinous of the allegations against him from DietMadisonAve. Maybe it is a legal thing, like if he admits on stage he is liable for a lawsuit. He has the money, he should go sue the DietMadisonAve people for defamation if it isn’t true.
ReplyThey all knew! They all totally knew. That’s the story hidden in [Edited under Mumbrella’s community guidelines] ‘s locker my friends. Accentre wanted the deal, Davey wanted the deal and also to make sure his pal from Saatchii Singapore still got paid his earnout from his owned shares of Droga5. After Davey’s visit to Asia and world tour then Ted just appears in Vegas for the Ted Talk from hell. [Edited under Mumbrella’s community guidelines], I hope clients keep this in mind when they hire[Edited under Mumbrella’s community guidelines] . I hope some reported puts the hard questions to Droga4 now.
ReplyWhy does a guy who’s allegedly raked in such a massive payout
Replyneed to work? Move to costa del sol and start a B&B….just stop ambushing unsuspecting audiences.
I want to see that powerpoint presentation, can somebody please put it up on Slideshare.
ReplyI hope we doesn’t try and speak in Cannes this summer. That is all.
ReplyYou know, the least he could have done is name who in the agency he offended. I am pretty sure he has an idea. You don’t sack a partner just for flirting around. There was too much smoke to not have a fire. But let’s face it, the people inside who would talk were paid off. Paid to shut up with NDA and all. That’s why the story is so fragmented. Too many questions still. But nobody is saying.
ReplyThis is so painful. Hope Ted tries to make a comeback in Bangkok working for JEH United. J and him are old pals what, she can cut him some slack.
ReplyHave your say