Hotlinenewswire

6 Shops in Running for $400 Mil. BK Account NEW YORK—Six agencies are contending for Burger King's $400 million account review. Campbell Mithun in Minneapolis, Grey Worldwide in New York and Publicis & Hal Riney in San Francisco join incumbent Lowe Lintas & Partners, Saatchi & Saatchi and McCann-Erickson Worldwide, all in New York, sources said. Burger King executives are expected to brief agencies within the next few weeks. Officials at the Miami-based fast-food chain issued a release Friday naming all agencies except Grey Worldwide. Agency officials declined comment.WestWayne Wins Toyota Distributors' $70 Mil. BizATLANTA—WestWayne has been awarded the Southeast Toyota Distributors' $70 million ad account after a four-month review. The Atlanta and Tampa, Fla.-based agency bested New York agencies Grey Worldwide, Della Femina, Rothschild, Jeary and Partners, and Gotham, as well as Omni Automotive in Birmingham, Ala. Key to WestWayne's victory, according to Bob Wolf, whose AAA/Bob Wolf Partners conducted the review, was its Southeastern presence and "dynamic presentations" by chief creative officer Luke Sullivan and Tobi Carvan-Moore, creative director of Black Sheep, an agency unit focused on minority marketing. Incumbents Saatchi & Saatchi in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; McGee & Starr in Boca Raton, Fla.; and The Moran Group in Baton Rouge, La., were eliminated earlier. Omni Automotive was the only incumbent to make the final round. Saatchi, lead agency for Toyota Motor Sales USA, had been the client's lead shop since the early 1990s.Ground Zero Takes New YorkLOS ANGELES—Ground Zero in Los Angeles is opening a new office in New York. The East Coast operation will be headed by agency principal Andrew Gledhill. The agency recruited Tyler Whisnand as its first creative partner at the New York office.Whisnand was a freelance creative prior to joining Ground Zero. He worked most recently at Amsterdam-based Kessels-Kramer.BellSouth/SBC New Wireless Company is CingularATLANTA—BellSouth and SBC Communications have merged their joint wireless business into a new Atlanta-based company, Cingular Wireless. SBC in San Antonio has a 60 percent ownership position in the company and BellSouth in Atlanta has a 40 percent share. Last spring, the companies announced plans to merge their domestic operations to create the nation's second-largest wireless company, which will provide service to 19 million customers in 38 states. Ketchum in Atlanta has been named Cingular's public relations agency of record. A decision on which ad agency—BBDO South, WestWayne, both in Atlanta, or GSD&M in Austin, Texas—will handle Cingular's $185-$250 million ad account is expected any day. Separately, Cingular has also launched a review for its $20 million Hispanic advertising account, sources said. Both reviews are handled by Wanamaker in Atlanta.Ford Begins Production; P&G Halts ProductionDETROIT—Ford Motor Co. has lifted the five-month-long moratorium it placed on TV commercial production because of the strike by members of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. The automaker is producing spots now for all brands using union talent outside the U.S. The automaker's Ford division and agency J. Walter Thompson in Detroit are shooting spots in Canada and Mexico. In some cases they are shooting footage with no actors. The ads are mostly dealer group ads and will be used to support the marketing of new and existing product, according to a Ford representative. The United Auto Workers has been informed. Separately, members of the International Association of Theatrical Stage Employees, Local 52 in New York, stopped production of a Saatchi & Saatchi commercial for a Procter & Gamble haircare product, Physique, last week when workers refused to cross the picket line, according to New York SAG spokesperson Fred Winters. The action comes as SAG last week posted on its Web site a revised interim agreement for commercials, largely based on the unions' last offer when talks broke down in September. UPromise Selects Hill, HollidayBOSTON—Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopulos has been hired by UPromise for direct marketing following a review of undisclosed contenders. Spending through the Boston-based shop is estimated to be in the low eight figures. Brookline, Mass.-based UPromise, a college savings and consumer-loyalty program launched by ex-Digitas chief executive Michael Bronner, hired McCann-Erickson in New York this spring as its lead agency. Both McCann and Hill, Holliday are Interpublic Group of Cos. shops.Newswire RoundupTSR Advertising in New York has changed its name to rotter•kantor to reflect the partnership between co-chairmen Steve Rotter and Bob Kantor. … Publicis U.K. broke a$60 million global ad campaign today for Stockholm, Sweden-based communications company Ericsson. Print, TV and radio spots will explain the benefits of the "Mobile Internet" and appear in five continents in eight languages. … Ball Park Franks awarded its $20 million advertising and media-planning accounts to Leo Burnett and Starcom USA, both in Chicago, respectively, after a review. Other contenders were Chicago agencies DDB and Euro RSCG Tatham. The incumbent, Lowe Lintas & Partners, was invited to pitch but declined. … Holland Mark Advertising has cut 15-20 staffers, most of whom have been working on TJX Cos. assignments, agency president Chris Colbert said. The layoffs had been expected in light of the Boston shop's split with TJX and its T.J. Maxx clothing chain. The $20 million T.J. Maxx account is in review through Boston consulting firm Pile and Co.

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