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.”