Rogers & Cowan/PMK Lays Off About 10% of Staff in Wake of Coronavirus
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Fallout from COVID-19 has hit publicity powerhouse Rogers & Cowan/PMK.
About 10% of the staff “across all divisions and departments” has been laid off, company chairman Cindi Berger told Variety on Wednesday morning.
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“It was a fiscally responsible decision to make that prepares us for the future,” she said. The cuts were made throughout Rogers & Cowan/PMK’s offices in New York, Los Angeles and London.
Longtime publicist Heidi Schaffer, whose clients include Jamie Lee Curtis and Sally Field, is among those who have been let go.
The firm’s talent relations clients also include Keanu Reeves, Rosie O’Donnell, Brie Larson, Jamie Foxx, Katy Perry, Ansel Elgort, Glenn Close, Bruce Willis, Judith Light, Michael B. Jordan and Vin Diesel.
Rogers & Cowan/PMK’s other departments include strategy and transformation, brand communications, influencer and digital, experiential and sponsorships, marketing partnerships and integration, and content marketing.
News of the layoffs comes just days after it was announced that public relations firm Baker Winokur Ryder would be closing its doors next month. Parent company BCW informed the staff last week. BCW said in a statement to Variety on May 21, “BCW (Burson Cohn & Wolfe) is committed to continually examining our business to ensure we are best structured to serve our clients and marketplace needs. Due to a variety of considerations, and the tremendous impact COVID-19 has had on the entertainment industry, we are combining our BWR brand into BCW Entertainment, effective immediately.”
Sources tell Variety that several senior publicists at BWR are starting a new firm.
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