±±¾©Èü³µpk10

Grey Worldwide is shedding 12 jobs in its London office after the

collapse of what was to have been a multimillion-pound global task to

promote crisis-ridden Marconi.

The agency confirmed the redundancies - representing 4 per cent of its

workforce - in account management as well as in the creative and

planning departments.

Steve Richards, the agency's managing director, cited the decision to

staff up in the wake of the Marconi win and the lack of significant new

business as the reason for the job losses. He said: "The general

economic downturn has caused us difficulties and we are taking action

now to put ourselves in a strong position for next year."

The Grey offices in London and New York were to have shared the task of

running a pounds 35 million corporate campaign publicising Marconi's

transformation from a military supplier to a telecoms and IT

specialist.

Grey was awarded the business in March, but resigned it less than two

months later after failing to agree terms. Since then, Marconi's share

price has tumbled after a profits warning and the company has announced

it is to axe 4,000 staff in the wake of the telecoms market

collapse.

"We had begun forming a unit to handle Marconi, but the income we had

built into our plans will not materialise," Richards explained.

Agency chiefs said they were trying to minimise the number of job losses

by moving some staff to other posts in the UK group or abroad.

Grey is the latest major agency to be hit by declining adspends. Saatchi

& Saatchi, BMP DDB and WCRS have shed more than 70 jobs between them in

recent weeks.