There was an article in last week's Adweek that I held off commenting on because I figured George Parker over at Adscam would sling it better than I. But it's been a few days now and fair game is fair game.
Here's the scoop. A handful of Publicis board members (only one of whom ever created an ad) have decided to forgo their 2009 bonuses as a "gesture of solidarity" with the company's employees in these tough times. http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/news/agency/e3i21cea1586dd4edf51bde7a0c27d5bbf9
Maurice Levy left his $3.7 million bonus on the table pocketing $1.2 million in salary last year. David Kenny and Jack Klues, managing partners of the VivaKi digital and media unit, each gave up $1.2 million in bonus; Jean-Yves Naouri, evp, group operations, $476,238; and Kevin Roberts, CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi, $408,182. Publicis said each of those executives made the decision independently of one another.
There's a lot of blather in agencies about the importance of creative. But never have I heard of creative people--you know copywriters, art directors and producers getting even 1/10th of what these denizens of the hallowed halls of holding companies have "independently" given back in a show of solidarity.
I'm sure that this magnanimous gesture will be great consolation to the thousands of former Publicis employees who were let go last year.
