L.L. Bean Mulls 6 Semifinalists
BOSTON—Catalog retailer L.L. Bean is considering six semifinalists for its $15-20 million ad account. In the running are FCB Worldwide, New York; Carmichael Lynch, Minneapolis; Crispin Porter & Bogusky, Miami; and Leagas Delaney, San Francisco, according to Judy Neer, a consultant with Pile and Co., Boston, which is overseeing the search. Two undisclosed agencies are also pitching, Neer said. A cut to finalists will come in mid-September. Mullen, Wenham, Mass., and the Freeport, Maine, client parted ways earlier in the summer.
HealthGate, nCipher Launch Agency Searches
BOSTON—HealthGate Data Corp., which provides healthcare institutions, corporations and Web sites with Web technology to supply up-to-date content for professionals, patients and consumers, has launched a search for an agency of record. nCipher, a Woburn, Mass., developer of computer security products, has narrowed the list for its first ad agency to four undisclosed contenders. While one source estimated the HealthGate account is worth $8-10 million, a representative for the Burlington, Mass., company claimed the budget is lower, although she declined to discuss specifics. The nCipher account is estimated to be in the low seven-figures.
Holland Mark Fights Heroin in Hub
BOSTON—Holland Mark Edmund Ingalls has been selected by the City of Boston to create an anti-heroin ad campaign that will break before year’s-end. The pro-bono effort from the agency here will include radio, print and outdoor executions targeting parents. Unlike alcohol or marijuana, heroin is not a drug parents may suspect their teens of using.
September Wraps in Boston
BOSTON—The double feature is over for September Productions’ Boston location, as the company moves permanently to New York. The consolidation will take place once all current production work is completed. The company, formed in Boston 22 years ago, is one of the few local production houses to attain stature on the national scene. It is leaving its hometown, according to Dan Driscoll, president, because “the majority of our work in the past couple of years has come from the New York and Los Angeles area.” The Manhattan office is expected to have a full-time staff of five. Directors Ellen Colombo, Neil Salley, Paul Henschel and Driscoll will continue to work with the New York company.
Hotline Roundup
BOSTON—Havas Advertising, the French conglomerate, last week announced that its F-4 registration statement filed earlier this month with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has been declared effective, bringing it one step closer to completing in September its proposed $2.1 billion stock buyout of Snyder Communications, the Bethesda, Md.-based parent of Arnold Communications and other agencies. … The newly renamed Wallwork & Curry (formerly Wallwork Curry Sandler) here has unveiled its first national campaign for Liberty Funds Distributor.
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