Mark Shapiro aims to open a new marketing communications agency by October, after being forced out May 2 as CEO of Momentum North America.
He will use the promotions and advertising model he had envisioned for Momentum as a starting point to buy or build a marketing services shop, probably in St. Louis and possibly with other offices elsewhere. Funding will be sourced through institutional or private investment.
“The philosophy of the new agency will be multi-disciplined, whether we have those disciplines in-house or not,” he said. “And there will be no mandate to acquire them.”
McCann Chairman-CEO John Dooner abruptly dismissed Shapiro and Momentum North America CFO Jerry Best three weeks after Shapiro outlined a plan to split Momentum into two agencies with separate disciplines. Shapiro had proposed to run a new business group handling promotions and advertising (image and promotional ads) that reported to McCann-Erickson’s regional director for North America Mark Gault. Momentum would keep some sales promotion, events, presence, sponsorship and retail consulting (some via sister Interpublic agencies) and would report to Momentum Worldwide Chairman-CEO Chris Weil. Dooner didn’t agree with Shapiro’s recommendation, but there’s “no direct correlation between his making a suggestion and being let go,” McCann spokesperson Susan Irwin said.
A McCann statement said Shapiro’s and Best’s jobs were cut “as part of an overall growth strategy [in which] Momentum is realigning its North American resources in order to give the leaders of its individual offices greater responsibilities and deemphasize regional organization.” A third management post, regional director for Europe, was also eliminated and that person was let go. Shapiro’s and Best’s duties now fall to Weil and Momentum Worldwide President Bill Kolb, who spends about three days a week in St. Louis.
Strained relations between Momentum North America and Momentum’s New York City office—as well as sister ad agency McCann-Erickson—made it tough to keep Momentum staff happy, Shapiro said. He blames troubled communication between Momentum North America and Worldwide and McCann on the economy and “different expectations.”
“People were losing patience, and trust was eroding, so I pushed for a set up to give people room,” Shapiro said. “I wasn’t asking for an out, I wanted to divide and prosper. Both divisions would have grown.”
Shapiro was named chairman and CEO of Momentum North America in 1999, more than a year after Interpublic bought Louis London, where Shapiro had been president. (Louis London was PROMO’s Agency of the Year in 1995; Momentum was Agency of the Year in 2001.)
“I really love this business, and believe in what I think the business should be about,” Shapiro said. “The hardest part [of leaving Momentum] is leaving people I’ve been working with for 20 years. The notes I’ve gotten from them are holding me up.”
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