Morrison Surges To Fore For Exide Electronics

‘Fresh Eyes’ Will Advertise Series of Computer Power Protectors
ATLANTA–The Morrison Agency here got a major billings boost last week by acquiring the $8 million advertising account of Exide Electronics in Raleigh, N.C.
Morrison was selected to manage brand advertising for the client’s line of uninterruptible power systems, surge protectors and backup devices, which are used primarily in computer network environments. The agency defeated a pair of unnamed East Coast contenders. The three finalists were the survivors of a much larger initial field during the six-month review.
The account is moving from Exide Electronics’ Raleigh neighbor, Rockett Burkhead Lewis & Winslow, which held the business for a decade. That shop will continue as the company’s agency of record for public relations, according to client marketing communications manager Amy Lock.
“We wanted to split the two disciplines and allow RBL&W to focus on media relations and public relations and have a new agency take a look at us from a different perspective,” Lock said. “We’re a complicated company. A lot of it is just overall change inside the company, and we thought it would be a good exercise to give it to some fresh eyes.”
Exide was purchased last year by British company BTR, which recently merged with Siebe, creating a $15 billion international corporation.
“It’s a big deal. This is an important account for us,” said agency president Bob Morrison. “We did a lot of research, and it’s a very complex category.”
“[The Morrison Agency] had been briefed, but they’d done a lot of research on their own,” Lock said. “So when they came in, their ideas felt so comfortable and so right that it was almost a perfect chemistry thing.
“We clicked. There was no debate. It was unanimous. It was a really easy decision.”
The win bumps Morrison close to $40 million in annual billings.
The agency will soon move into what Morrison described as “a kick-ass new [office] space,” now in the final stages of reconstruction. The former bar is located in Atlanta’s trendy Buckhead district.