Y&R Says Creative/Account Split Will Benefit Lincoln-Mercury Ads

Young & Rubicam’s surprising plan to service Ford Motor Co.’s Lincoln-Mercury division from two separate California offices is designed to capitalize on the best the West Coast has to offer, according to agency executives.
While account management, media and strategic planning teams will be stationed in Irvine, close to the client’s new headquarters, all creative teams will be based at the agency’s existing office in San Francisco. The lure is a “vibrant and creative, trendsetting culture, which has produced some of the best advertising in the world,” said John Hirschboek, Y&R Detroit’s current president, who will head California operations [Adweek, March 16].