Huge lays off 6% of staff as client cutbacks hurt digital agencies

Huge has laid off 6% of its staff, Ad Age has learned. This marks the second round of cutbacks of late at the Interpublic Group of Cos. agency, which reduced staff by 3% in July, shortly after announcing it would be shifting to a “fully flexible” model. In August, it was reported that Huge signed a 12-year lease for a new office space within the Brooklyn Navy Yard area. The new space is 71,000 square feet, smaller than the 80,000 square foot space it previously occupied in Dumbo, Brooklyn. “The economy is only becoming more unpredictable, and some of our clients are continuing to pull back their spending–or in many cases significantly reducing their own employee levels. In response, we have proactively reduced the size of our staff by approximately 6%,” Huge confirmed in a statement to Ad Age. While the agency wouldn’t specify how many people were laid off, Huge is believed to employ about 1,200 people, indicating that about 72 were affected. “Although it was a difficult decision, we are confident that it was the right thing to do to enable Huge to be a more focused company and to help insulate us from what is clearly going to be a volatile period in our industry,” Huge wrote in the statement. “We remain very optimistic about the future thanks to the strength of our brand, the value of our products and services, and our ongoing mission.” Tracking layoffs and budget cuts How brands and agencies are bracing for a recession Click here Huge is the latest digital-focused agency to announce significant layoffs. R/GA laid off 5% of its staff in June and undertook a second round of layoffs in October, according to multiple people close to the situation, around the same time that the agency announced it would be moving to a “distributed creativity model.” R/GA recently signed a lease in the Chelsea area. Last week, Work & Co let go of 8% of its staff, affecting around 45 to 50 employees. “It’s been a tough time post-COVID for a lot of the digital native agencies as e-commerce growth has slowed and budgets in general have been trimmed,” Greg Paull, principal and co-founder of advertising consultancy R3 Worldwide said. “More and more marketers are investing in content through their own in-house studios or small and nimble boutiques. The opportunity for the digital specialists is to move upstream and beyond marketing and become an active participant in their client’s digital transformation agenda.” Beyond digital specialists, the industry overall has been rocked by layoffs. Empower and Anomaly reduced staff in January. Tech companies Microsoft, Google, and Paypal have all gone through massive layoffs as well.

Huge lays off 6% of staff as client cutbacks hurt digital agencies

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