Goodby Silverstein & Partners lays off staff amid Comcast account changes

Goodby Silverstein & Partners has laid off less than 5% of its staff after losing some of its longstanding Comcast Corp. account, Ad Age has learned. The Omnicom agency employs roughly 335 people. “We are always right-sizing our staff to meet the demands of our clients,” GS&P said in a statement. “While we unfortunately did need to part ways with less than 5% of our staff, we’ve also brought in new hires to service our recent client wins, such as Zaxbys, Empower and General Mills.” GS&P did not say how many new hires it made. Comcast, which has worked with GS&P for roughly two decades, is moving some of its business in-house, according to two people familiar with the matter. It could not immediately be determined how much of the agency’s scope is affected. Comcast did not confirm or deny changes to its relationship with GS&P. In a statement, the company said: “We have a longstanding, successful relationship with GS&P. They are our largest creative agency relationship and that will continue.” Comcast is one of GS&P’s three biggest clients by revenue, according to the agency’s 2024 A-List entry. Ad Age Leading National Advertisers 2024 U.S. ad spending, rankings, analysis and profiles for the biggest marketers Click here The account changes come as the media company plans to spin off cable TV channels including MSNBC, CNBC and USA, reducing its exposure to a business that’s losing viewers and advertisers. Comcast was the second largest advertiser in 2023 based on total U.S. ad spending ($6.2 billion), according to Ad Age’s Leading National Advertisers report. “Like many companies, as the Comcast business changes, they are always assessing the way in which they work with agencies (and how they work internally),” GS&P said in a statement. The agency added that it would “continue to work with our partners at Comcast on a variety of significant things and plan on doing so well into the future.” GS&P has worked on a variety of Comcast brands, including Xfinity, for which it recently developed a spot around the launch of “Wicked” (see below). The shop has also done some design work for Comcast Business, one of the company’s many subsidiaries.

Goodby Silverstein & Partners lays off staff amid Comcast account changes

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