H/M/S Continues Agency Buyout Spree By Jim Kir

COLUMBUS, OHIO - Hameroff/Milenthal/Spence here continued its strategy of picking off struggling shops with one main anchor client when it assumed most of the clients

H/M/S will open an office in Memphis in the next couple of weeks, and will take on about 20 or so staffers from Weinstock. Financial details weren’t disclosed, but Weinstock’s name will most likely cease to exist.
It is the second time in less than a month, H/M/S, a $50-million shop, has moved into a new area and acquired another shop’s clients and people. The agency took over financially troubled Stockton West Burkhart in Cincinnati in early June.
The strategy is one that H/M/S officials say they will continue to pursue in the coming year. The agency will look for more agencies that are relying on one major client with a strong field service need, but can offer a certain discipline H/M/S can use throughout its network, according to Rick Milenthal, executive vp of the agency.
‘It’s all driven by new business really,’ Milenthal said. ‘We are looking at clients where we can do advertising, promotions and field work. If it’s highly media driven and is national or regional in scope, we want it. These accounts and agencies are attractive.’
Bill Lancaster, vp/management supervisor at Weinstock becomes vp/general manager of H/M/S’s Memphis office.
Copyright Adweek L.P. (1993)