• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, September 7, 2016

The Martin Agency has reduced its workforce by 5.6%, laying off 29 employees. The reduction is said to have stemmed from the loss of the Walmart account which represented 5% of the agency's annual billings. The account is now with Publicis. 

Of the layoffs, The Martin Agency spokesman Dean Jarrett said, “It happened due to a combination of reasons, including decreases in spending among some of our clients, the loss of Walmart that happened in July and a little bit of an internal realignment of some resources to more closely match the evolving needs of our clients. We are also reorganizing some of our internal processes, with the goal of making our agency even more agile."

The layoffs bring the agency's headcount down to 486. Most of the layoffs took place in the agency's Richmond office.

The layoffs were handled individually and then an office wide meeting was held. Jarrett added, “Matt Williams, our CEO, called all the employees together and went over the news. It is just a really tough day. It’s not uncommon for there to be ups and downs as you win and lose business. I feel like we have had less than most, so it makes it particularly difficult.”

Things may not be so bad for those employees who were let go. Jarret explained, saying, “When we lost the Walmart account, we had a bunch of agencies and people reach out to us and say if we had any people that needed a job after Walmart left that they were interested, and we are sharing all those lists with the employees affected.”