Bozell Fires the Top Woman Executive in Its L.A. Office

One of the top women in Los Angeles advertising, Renee Fraser, has been fired as head of the Los Angeles office of the agency Bozell.

Fewer than a handful of women run major Los Angeles agencies, but among them, Fraser, 39, had become one of the most visible. In her three years as general manager at Bozell, Fraser helped the agency land a number of key clients, including Sega of America and Rockwell International. But the past year at the agency has been flat--as it has been at many agencies nationally.

Mel Newhoff, 50, the agency’s creative head, will assume Fraser’s day-to-day administrative duties and the title of general manager.

Fraser contends that the actions by Bozell are a cost-cutting move, as clients continue to reduce spending. Executives at Bozell, however, say the move was taken to improve creative product.

“I think it was an attempt to cut costs,” said Fraser in a telephone interview from her home. “It was a case of too many executives at the senior level.”

Fraser--who wants to remain in the ad business in Los Angeles--declined to comment when asked if the fact that she is female played a role in her firing.

“We would not have put her in there in the first place if there was an issue of femininity involved,” said Sid Marshall, executive vice president and corporate executive. He also denies that it was a cost-cutting move. “Clients want better creative (work), and we want to make the statement to the community that we’re a creative shop,” Marshall said.

Among those who create ads, Newhoff’s is a very familiar name. He was formerly creative director of the now-defunct Los Angeles agency Abert, Newhoff & Burr. Fraser has primarily been involved in strategy and research at the agency.

The reorganization at Bozell comes a few months after four of the agency’s senior creative employees resigned. It also comes less than one year after Marshall was placed in the struggling Los Angeles office to help determine its future.

Over the past three years, Bozell has cut the size of its Los Angeles office in half to about 80 employees.