FleetBoston Mulls Interactive Decision
BOSTON—A trio of finalists late last week were awaiting word from FleetBoston Financial on which will be assigned an estimated $5-7 million in interactive duties. Digitas, Boston, along with Cambridge, Mass., shops Agency.com and Razorfish, made final presentations to client officials last week in a review being overseen by Pile and Co., Boston, sources said. Client officials and consultants with Pile and Co. did not return calls by press time on Friday. Zentropy Partners, Cambridge, an Interpublic Group unit, has handled the assignment. A Zentropy representative characterized the relationship as project-based and said work for FleetBoston is ongoing. A client representative several weeks ago said no new assignments are forthcoming for Zentropy.
Nextel, Mullen in Big Marketing Push
BOSTON—Nextel Communications is launching a nationwide effort supporting its wireless offerings. The Reston, Va., client may spend more than $125 million this year and TV targeting white collar professionals will be a key component of its marketing efforts. Mullen, Wenham, Mass., and Devon Direct, Philadelphia, are the client’s primary agency partners. The “How business gets done” tagline, introduced a year ago, along with the generally humorous bent of past Mullen campaigns for the client, will be retained.
Engage to Cut Staff by Half
BOSTON—After a September staff reduction of 175, Engage, an Andover, Mass.-based advertising network and technology developer, last week announced that it would shave its workforce by half, or 550, over the next few months. The downsizing, the company said, would “increase operation efficiencies, improve margins and further recoup expenses.” Engage will concentrate on enterprise marketing software and interactive media for marketing.
Leo Burnett Technology Group Drops ‘TFA’
CHICAGO—In a move to align its high-tech arm more closely with its mainstream agency, Leo Burnett will drop the TFA label from its TFA/Leo Burnett Technology Group subsidiary. The move is intended allow the division to add more consumer technology clients to its base of high-tech business-to-business, said LBTG chief executive Sean Bisceglia. LBTG has offices in Chicago, Boston, San Francisco and Austin, Texas, and billings of $182 million.
Fraleigh Rises at General Motors
DETROIT—General Motors named Christopher J. Fraleigh executive director, corporate marketing and advertising. Fraleigh joins GM from Pepsi-Cola in Purchase, N.Y., where he was vice president of marketing for colas. Fraleigh, whose position is new, will report to John G. Middlebrook, GM vice president and general manager, vehicle brand marketing and corporate advertising. He will be responsible for the corporate marketing and advertising activities, as well as the GM Card. Several regional agencies have noteworthy GM assignments.
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