From the Office of the CEO - restructuring the Agency, March 2021
March 10th 2021
To: Martin Mallory, Group CEO, OmniMedia Inc
From: Elliott DeBeer, CEO, Lifeforce Agency
Re: Restructure
Hello Martin,
I hope all is well with you. I just saw the press coverage of the Group balance sheet write-downs. I think the phrase “impairment charge” is a bit harsh, but I guess this is what the opposite of goodwill sounds like in the financial pages!
I hope that our agency wasn’t too much of a contributory factor and you’ll be happy to know that our full restructuring plan will be on its way over to you for approval later in the week.
In tackling our structural issues, I’ve been taking a good look at the marketplace and it feels like we may be a bit out of whack. While being mindful that a lot of the success of Lifeforce has been built upon the shoulders of the senior team – and that team (and my leadership) is what OmniMedia purchased a couple of years ago – I’m also conscious that “time waits for no man” and we need “action this day”. So, I was struck by a couple of factoids:
One of our competitors was recently boasting that the average age of employees in their Group is “under 30”.
A recent IPSOS survey revealed that while 45% of adults in the US are over 50, only 6% of employees in ad agencies are in that demographic.
I believe we need to more fully mirror the make-up and cost base of our competitors and at the same time increase our diversity and it feels that this could be a win/win in terms of perception, headcount and costs.
Obviously, we’ll need to pay the “going rate” for new talent but given the overall personnel reductions in our industry and the fact that we’ll be trading for a younger, more diverse workforce (dare I say, lifeforce, lol?), I see this as a great opportunity for us and the Group for the future. I’ll need some help from your HR gurus at HQ to finesse the exits from a legal pov, but I don’t foresee much pushback on the client side as long as I remain at the helm.
Having a new team will also put more of a management burden on me and it’s one that I’m very willing to take on. Once I have these plans in place, we can discuss my own compensation package, as the cost reductions will undoubtedly give us more headroom for incentives.
May I conclude by applauding you for the position you’ve taken in advancing the digital capability of the Group? The new app software company OmniMedia has acquired in Myanmar is extremely responsive and appear to work with military efficiency, even if the time zone wrinkles still need to be worked out. Your leadership in this as well as every other area is very much appreciated.
Looking forward to a much-improved year.
Yours,
Elliott DeBeer, CEO, Lifeforce Agency, part of OmniMedia Inc.