Christie Peolwane and others retrenched at SapientNitro, Sydney following 3 Mobile loss
CumminsNitro, Sydney has retrenched Christie Peolwane, only two months after promoting her to associate creative director following 18 months as senior art director at the agency.
CB hears Peolwane and several other staffers have been let go today following the loss of the significant 3 Mobile business to STW owned Moon Communications (in a pitch that also included Vodafone agency Clemenger BBDO, Sydney), only three months after the agency inherited the business from previous incumbent The Campaign Palace, Sydney.
3 Mobile is now on its fifth agency in eight years: it was launched by DDB Sydney in 2001, then switched to The Moult Agency in 2004. In 2006 The Campaign Palace won the account, which it held until losing the business to CumminsNitro (now SapientNitro) in June this year.
However, the fledgling SapientNitro Sydney office is unlikely to close, given the agency still has the recently won Volvo business and other smaller accounts.
28 Comments
It’s a prick of an industry. The thing that really annoys me is how the agencies build you up in their press releases to be world-beating geniuses. They then ditch you without a second’s thought when they don’t need you any more. It’s business, I know. But it really irritates me.
hope you are okay issy!
Sound more than a bit schizophrenic to me. One minute you’re being promoted, next minute you’re out. Christie was a very hard worker, she’ll be missed.
I’d love to know the number of staff Cummins&Partners/CumminsNitro/SapientNitro have retrenched over the last three years. 50? More? Seriously!
Sorry to hear Christie. I can’t believe the amount of work you guys did, in the time you did – and the client walks. They were a bastard of a client though!
It would be far too predictable of anyone who briefly held a creative leadership position with this organisation – and there are many – to comment on this unsurprising development.
A bad decision. Christie was the driving force for the Sydney office.
3 Mobile sound like a good client – a real prize worth fighting for.
Just about everyone I’ve talked to has said – don’t pitch for 3s business, they wouldn’t have a clue what an idea looks like AND they want a master/slave relationship.
why bother with these kinds of clients – just ends in tears – as above.
It seems like a great example of an agency pursuing the wrong kind of growth. CumminsNitro would have known that 3 was a crap client. However, they would have been so desperate to try and gain some traction in the Sydney market for their fledgling agency. You can’t blame them for that. What it does show though, in my view, is the ugly side of putting the bottom line ahead of the right kind of growth – growth that truly builds agencies. Getting into bed with crap clients without thinking of the true consequences is so destructive. These layoffs are a stark demonstration of that.
cummins insider:
Wow you guys really love to find conspiracies don’t you?
Here’s the deal: Christie was great for Sydney and was well loved. She was offered a Cd role elsewhere and the agency decided to match the title. 3 came and went under Christie’s watch. But also under a lot of hard work by a lot of people. Clients are bastards at times. These guys were good at it.
The number of retrenchments ..in my experience at the agency… is remarkably low. People leave agencies too of their own free will. And there haven’t been too many tears when people have been retrenched. They know why, too. I have been at the agency for 5 years. And its a great, kind ,happy place to work. When my number is up…i will take full responsibility for my side of things…
So…seriously guys ….stop acting like victims….
Sorry, But the world that is advertising has two sides; the agency giveth and the agency taketh away. No one should be surprised that they let someone go. Even the best creatives get the arse; it’s a badge on honour for some people, and something to talk about at your next ‘industry lunch’ This girl will get a job again; probably a better one than she had before. Let’s move on. Full stop.
8:28 PM / 11:01 PM
Pathetic! If you are going to tow the company line in such a sycophantic way, use your real names. It is just embarrassingly clear your are part of the management/ownership.
You know what Christie … stuff happens and your best is still in front of you.
I have experience with two other agencies who work with 3. All of it bad. Master/ slave is a good description as someone has already pointed out. I think they now have the sort of agency they deserve.
While I feel sorry for Christie I worked at an agency that had the 3 account for a very long time by today’s standards.
While they weren’t the easiest to deal with (what telco is?) I still stand by the old maxim – there’s no such thing as a bad account, only bad account management.
Well said, 8:02AM…almost. The phrase is ‘toe the company line’. Think about it.
I stand by the old maxim – you can do anything as long as it’s not boring
and 3 really were a boring client.
Don’t know you Christie but i’ll bet you worked your arse off to keep people happy and win business. Start your own shop and take their clients.
I have worked on 3, and haven’t met a less organised or less focused group of people. Up to 5 debriefs per day everyday for over a month on pretty simple retail work. They have little to no idea about how to sell their own quite interesting story let alone get the best out of (or get out of the way of) their agency.
Perhaps an important topic to spring from this is how, as an industry in a fair bit of turmoil, do we let a client like 3 call for pitches twice in one year? Furthermore, they’ve been calling for unpaid project pitches in between. Having worked at an agency (now defunct) that spent over $20,000 on one such tyre kicking exercise, I would have to say that if we want to save jobs, we ALL have to say no to unpaid pitches.
3 are pretty morally bankrupt in my opinion, having awarded us some business only to offer $2,000 fee for everything that was done( over $20,000 in internal time alone).
Christie seems a good person, and no good person needs to fall to people like this.
Yep,
I’ve previously worked on the 3 account. I’ve also worked on other telcos.
3 are, by far and away, the worst client I have ever worked for. They simply would not know their arse from their elbow.
We’re talking many, many debriefs (most of the time conflicting each other), ridiculous timelines, script rewrites after the shoot, the inability to realise what a single-minded communication is, etc, etc.
If I was interviewing and saw someone that had any length of tenure at 3 on their CV, I wouldn’t hire them.
To any agencies thinking about pitching for them, I’d seriously look at their track record. Many of their past agencies either no longer exist, or are doing it very tough. The reason? 3 suck them dry, kill any morale amongst the staff, then move on.
If a plague of locusts were a client, sounds like 3 would be it.
Conclusion? It’s not good to be 3.
It must be the luck of the Irish the way 3 staff get promoted. I hear one of the top marketers was a graphic designer just a few short years ago. It’s no wonder they are a mess to work with.
Christie herself has come along way in a few years (what is she 27-28??). It’s no surprise given her talent, common sense and hard working nature. And all without ego! Perhaps attitude comes with age. In her case, I hope not. She’s lovely to work with and I wish her the best.
I can’t believe this or should I say I do believe it.
They are an embarrassment to the industry.
They are playing with people’s lives.
Christie, at least you were retrenched from somewhere somewhat decent. I’ve never had the opportunity to work in a decent place and make a go of it, so hold your head high.
Shall I address the white elephant in the room?
Voda and 3 have merged. Is no one going to talk about this?
Where does this leave Clems? As I hear most on the management of the new entity are from 3?
This story is far from over, me thinks.