#OOH @Global Sales Staff Laid Off In Some Numbers
With news of who has (finally) won the Transport for London (TfL) London Rail advertising contract (Overland and Underground) currently held by Global and the London-wide Street Furniture contract currently held by JCDecaux both being expected imminently, also comes news that Global seem to be laying off a large number of their OOH sales staff. One wicked rumour is that everyone above Group Head may have already been let go with lower levels in a ‘consultation’ process.
Many industry experts believe that JCDecaux are in the hot seat to win the entire bid (i.e. both contracts) which if true of course makes it look bleak for Global in retaining their current London rail contract, which makes you think “why else make your sales force redundant?”.
It’s important to add that there are a couple of UK industry firsts with regards these tenders (which were announced on October 23, 2023).
- Both start on the same day, err April 1 2025 and are for a whopping eight year duration, with an additinal two year extension at TfL’s discretion
- And hugely significant, for the first time ever, bids for BOTH contracts would be considered from one entity, therefore Global, JCDecaux, Clear Channel UK or whoever else might have been interested could bid for and could win both contracts.
If one party is awarded both contracts the impact on the UK OOH landscape and the UK market dynamics will be seismic.
Watch this space and watch out for some good sales people becoming available on the jobs market through no fault of their own.
Categories: Scuttlebut
