Ann Fudge, the chairman of Young & Rubicam Brands and Y&R Advertising, is relinquishing her leadership of the advertising network after a controversial two-year tenure that has seen it lose the Jaguar, Sony Electronics and Burger King accounts.
This news came as Y&R announced that Massimo Costa will replace the BBDO-bound William Eccleshare as the chairman of the network in Europe.
The network has struggled under Fudge's leadership, losing major international accounts and failing to replace lost business. In January, it laid off 10 per cent of the staff in its New York office because of account losses.
As the head of Y&R Brands, Fudge theoretically retains responsibility for the agency network, including the appointment of a successor. Y&R maintains Costa will report to Fudge and the new head of the network. However, senior Y&R sources believe that Fudge's jurisdiction over the ad network is merely nominal.
Costa is currently the chairman of Y&R's operations in Italy. His new role will see him partner David Sable, the chairman of Wunderman EMEA, in building Y&R Brands across the region.
It has not yet been decided whether Costa will continue to run Y&R Italy as well as the EMEA region.
He started his career in 1984 with McCann Erickson Italy and moved to Y&R in 1990. In 1999, he became the chairman of Lowe Lintas Italy before moving back to Y&R in 2003 to become its chairman.
"The biggest challenge for me is the same as in any job in my career; to keep striving for that extra mile in delivering the ultimate client service. That's true for a small agency or a big network and it's the key to success," Costa said. "The other challenge is to maintain the momentum that Y&R has achieved in the EMEA region. It's been doing very well, with a record new-business year in 2004, and I'm keen to build on that."
- Perspective, page 27.
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