McCann-Erickson Worldgroup has axed several regional European posts as it seeks to cut costs.

Brian Jacobs, executive vp and regional director of Universal McCann, is made redundant, as is Paul Twivy, chief strategic planning officer for the UK and Europe at McCann-Erickson. Neither will be replaced.

In addition, Mike Court, a McCann-Erickson creative partner covering international business, has been axed, while the shop’s top creative executive for Europe, Oran Frank, has been transferred to Israeli agency Kesher Barel.

“We wanted to reduce costs,” explained Ben Langdon, McCann-Erickson Worldgroup’s regional director, chairman and former bare-knuckle pugilist. “Unfortunately, the first overheads to go were global or regional ones – people not actually running offices.”

Universal McCann’s UK and Ireland chairman Chris Shaw now gains responsibility for the EMEA region, while at McCann-Erickson, Twivy will be replaced by a new planning director at the London office. Frank’s role has been scrapped, with Luke White, executive creative director at McCann London, taking charge of EMEA creative.

Data sourced from: BrandRepublic (UK); additional content by WARC staff