Some partnerships don’t last long.
In 2019, Cindy Berger and Mark Owens merged two of Hollywood’s biggest advertising firms, PMK*BNC and Rodgers & Cowan, to form a marketing giant with Berger as chairman and Owens as CEO.
Owens has since been fired, and the merged entity (now known as R&CPMK) accuses him of stealing employees, customers and confidential information to launch rival advertising company 2pm Sharp.
In a lawsuit filed Tuesday night in New York and Wednesday morning in Los Angeles, the R&CPMK accuses Owens of secretly orchestrating a mass exodus of employees. Talent co-presidents Lindsey Gaylin and Jeff Raymond were the first to leave on October 1, followed by 11 others over the next two days.
The lawsuit alleges that the defecting employees breached their duty of loyalty to R&CPMK and stand to lose “incalculable revenue from lost customer business.” R&CPMK must now work to restore morale among its remaining employees and address threats to its reputation as an industry leader, according to the filing.
“The conduct of the former employees is particularly egregious in that some of them were senior executives who understood the importance of protecting our business relationships,” the complaint states.
Owens was appointed CEO of Rogers & Cowan in 2015 after a long career in marketing and partnership development between brands and entertainment. He and Berger merged their companies four years later, and both companies became wholly owned by Interpublic Group. The combined organization represented more than 500 stars, including Robert Redford, Denzel Washington, Glenn Close, and Katy Perry, and brands such as Samsung, McDonald’s, and YouTube.
“This is a transformative moment for our agency, a move that will create significant value and tremendous opportunity for us and our clients around the world,” Owens said at the time.
Owens began planning to retire in late 2023, according to the complaint, when he asked another senior executive to help start a new company. The R&CPMK believes he also recruited Garin and Raymond around the same time.
The company fired him from his CEO position in January, effective March 1, according to the complaint. The R&CPMK accuses Mr. Owens of using the downtime to continue recruiting employees for his new venture.
After stepping down, Mr. Berger assumed the dual role of chairman and CEO.
Owens spent little time founding Sharp at 2pm, filing it as an LLC in Delaware, buying a web domain, and registering it to do business in California and New York.
Cindi Berger of R&CPMK and Mark Owens of 2pm Sharp
Provided image
Over the summer, Owens paid tribute to his late father on LinkedIn, crediting him with instilling values that served him well throughout his business career.
“History has taught us many things. As we soon move on to a new chapter with new adventures, fame, respect, and a moral compass are needed now more than ever. “I hope we all remember,” he wrote.
R&CPMK alleges that Mr. Owens was plotting with other employees who were still in the company at the time to transfer their work to Sharp at 2 p.m.
The suit alleges that Raymond and more than a dozen other employees downloaded 11,000 company files on September 20, days before they resigned. Other employees downloaded an additional 5,000 files in the days leading up to their termination, the lawsuit says.
R&CPMK maintains extensive confidential files on A-list celebrity clients and Fortune 500 brands. Such information is kept secret because “if a competitor had access to that information, they would have a ‘strategy’ for how to approach and serve each customer and take business away from R&CPMK.” The complaint states that this is because there is a possibility of theft.
Amid a wave of resignations, R&CPMK began receiving notices from clients discontinuing their relationships. The departing employees refused to tell human resources or company leaders where they were going, but the company soon learned they would be joining Sharp at 2 p.m., according to the complaint.
According to the lawsuit, Jessica Sciacchitano, senior vice president of talent, emailed Owens, Raymond and others on Oct. 2 a list of clients she planned to bring to the new company. This email was later deleted, but was restored by the R&CPMK.
The lawsuit does not name any of the customers, but 2pm Sharp has posted images of the Rolling Stones, Jim Gaffigan, Adrien Brody, John David Washington and others on his Instagram account.
The two complaints name 13 former employees as defendants, including Mr. Owens, Mr. Raymond and Mr. Sciacchitano.
R&CPMK accuses the employees of violating the contract and the company’s code of conduct, which prohibits soliciting customers and employees to leave the company for direct competitors. The lawsuit seeks return of confidential information, compensatory and punitive damages, and an order prohibiting former employees from soliciting R&CPMK’s customers for one year.
“We do not comment on pending litigation,” Berger said.
Owens and 2pm Sharp did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
CAA sued Range Media Partners, a management company founded by former CAA agents, in 2020, and similar disputes have gripped the agency world this year. The lawsuit accuses former employees of soliciting CAA customers, downloading confidential company information and using Telegram to gather information. Avoid detection.
