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Sears Fires Ogilvy & Mather

After 43 years of directing the advertising of Sears, Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide has been thrown over in favor of Sears consolidating its $640 million advertising account with Young & Rubicam, AdAge reports. Both agencies are part of advertising holding company WPP Group and have worked jointly on the account since 1993.

 

The consolidation will happen by October 1, 2005. Mindshare will continue to hold on to its media planning and buying responsibilities.

Last year, Sears’ $640 million ad budget was split between Y&R and Ogilvy. It’s difficult to measure the effect this will have on Ogilvy, but in April, when Sears slashed its fees paid to both Ogilvy and Y&R, the 180-employee office of Ogilvy cut 12 employees the following month.