- Andrew McMains

NEW YORK Three agencies have emerged as finalists in a review of creative advertising duties on Gold's Gym.

A client representative identified the shops as Publicis Groupe's Publicis & Hal Riney in San Francisco, Omnicom Group's Zimmerman in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Havas' McKinney in Durham, N.C.

The finalists emerged from a field of five agencies that client executives had visited, according to sources. Next up are briefings and work sessions.

Final presentations are slated for early May at the client's headquarters in Dallas, a representative said.

Billings were not disclosed, but sources estimated spending at $15 million. Hasan + Co. in Raleigh, N.C., is managing the process.

The winning creative agency will succeed independent Riester in Phoenix, which has handled the ad account for about three years.

Not in play are media duties, which are handled by independent Camelot Communications in Dallas.

Gold's, a division of TRT Holdings, operates more than 620 gyms in 30 countries, including 520 in the U.S alone. The company is based in Dallas.

Major ad spending on Gold's totaled nearly $4 million last year, according to Nielsen Monitor-Plus. That figure does not include online media.