Mike Burns leaves Saatchi & Saatchi taking seventeen key staff members with him.
Some time ago, he had been made Co-CEO of Saatchi along with Scott Gilbert New York office by Saatchi’s Grand Poobah Kevin Roberts. Burn’s promotion made sense as Genenral Mill’s billing is an astounding $500 million — fully half the New York office’s billing, and Burns was top man at the agency on General Mills.
But the two men had totally different ad styles and frankly, just could not get along– flashy Roberts vs. soft-spoken Burns. But Roberts decided that wasn’t working out. He would terminate Gilbert and move Burns back (down) to his General Mills spot.
This change eventually led to Burns leaving and taking his people with him.
New York magazine has the inside facts on this agency shakeup.