Origin8 Confirms Severing Ties With Saatchi & Saatchi

A marketing communications company, Origin8 has confirmed to Citi Business News that its partnership with global advertising agency, Saatchi & Saatchi, has ended. This was contained in a statement from Origin8 responding to an earlier report filed by Citi Business News that the two entities were about to split. Saatchi & Saatchi will soon operate its own offices in Ghana following strategic measures being undertaken by its mother company, The Publicist Group. Origin8 did not deny news about losing its partnership with Saatchi & Saatchi, but the statement signed by its Human Resource Manager, Frank Owusu-Nti Jnr. , the Publicist Group, under which Saatchi & Saatchi belongs, has taken a strategic decision to consolidate the group�s network agencies around the world. In Ghana, all its resources will soon be centralised under one wholly-owned agency. This means all its local agencies including Origin8 will lose the partnership. According to Origin8, losing its partnership with Saatchi & Saatchi is not as a result of poor performance. The company in the statement did not also deny that it has lost its rather juicy MTN account as a result of the new development. In 2005, Saatchi & Saatchi chose Origin8 as its agency in Ghana to take care of the creative needs and advertising responsibilities for Saatchi's prestigious clients in the country. Saatchi & Saatchi which is headquartered in New York operates 134 offices in 84 countries around the globe, and is staffed by more than 7,000 of the most creative minds in the industry. Origin8 was set up by Daniel Twum Jnr. but following his death, Mr. Joel Nettey took over as the Chief Executive Officer. But boardroom wrangling eventually led to the termination of Mr. Nettey�s appointment late last year.