Lowe Gets 'Quasi Network' in IPG

The trial grouping of Lowe, Bozell and Mullen is expected to become permanent early next year and could be followed by other realignments among independent-minded, midsized shops owned by Interpublic Group, sources said.

The linkage is designed to create a “quasi network” of agencies under Lowe and give it resources outside its New York headquarters, much in the way McCann-Erickson counts Fitzgerald & Co. and Austin Kelley as agency resources in Atlanta, said sources.

The brands will remain separate, but revenue from Mullen, Bozell and Lowe will be combined and reported as a unit to IPG.

The grouping of the three agencies reverses some of the decentralization of last year’s IPG reorganization, which divided the company’s operating units into four divisions, including The Partnership, a collection of some 15 shops overseen by IPG vice chairman David Bell.

The groundwork for the latest move was laid in June, when Mullen CEO Joe Grimaldi...