Monster.com’s $75-90 Mil. Account in Play
BOSTON–Internet job-search firm Monster.com last week threw its $75-90 million domestic account, held by Mullen for about two years, into review. Mullen, Wenham, Mass., intends to defend. D’Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles, Lowe Lintas & Partners and Saatchi & Saatchi, all in New York, have been contacted by consulting firm Pile and Co., here, about pitching Maynard, Mass.-based Monster.com, sources said. Lowe Lintas’ office in Sydney, Australia, handles Monster.com’s account for Australia, New Zealand and Singapore; Saatchi & Saatchi, London, has the pan-European assignment. Both Mullen and Lowe Lintas are owned by the Interpublic Group of Cos.
L.L. Bean Launches Search
BOSTON–Catalog retailer L.L. Bean has split with agency of record Mullen and launched a review for its $15-20 million account through consulting firm Pile and Co. The Richards Group, Dallas, and Carmichael Lynch, Minneapolis, were finalists for the account two years ago in a Pile-managed review won by Mullen. Pile officials said initial contenders have not been determined.
Lycos Taps Hill, Holliday for $25-30 Mil. Business
BOSTON–Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopulos has been named to handle the $25-30 million account of Internet portal Lycos Network. The move was expected, as Boston-based Hill, Holliday was the lone remaining finalist after Deutsch, pitching through its offices in New York and Boston, withdrew in May, claiming Hill, Holliday received preferential treatment in the pitch because agency chief executive Jack Connors sits on Lycos’ board. Hill, Holliday will develop a branding campaign touting Terra Lycos, the new entity that will be formed later this year once Spanish conglomerate Terra Networks completes its $12.5 billion acquisition of Lycos.
Tops Markets Selects BE&P
CHICAGO–Tops Markets awarded its $15-20 million account to Barkley Evergreen & Partners. The Kansas City, Mo., shop bested the Wolf Group in Buffalo for the regional supermarket chain’s business, which will include traditional advertising, as well as direct marketing assignments, according to agency officials.
The Williamsville, N.Y.-based chain operates nearly 220 supermarkets and convenience stores, mostly in New York and Ohio, under the Tops Friendly markets and Wilson Farms names. Minnetonka, Minn., consultant Jan Apple ran the review.
Seven Emerge in CareGroup Competition
BOSTON–CareGroup, a consortium of Boston-area hospitals, is mulling seven agencies in the first round of a review for its $3-4 million account. Pitching are: Allen & Gerritsen, Watertown, Mass.; Kelley Habib John Integrated Marketing, Boston; Cronin & Co., Glastonbury, Conn.; BVK/McDonald, Milwaukee; Fletcher Martin Ewing, Atlanta; MRA, Syracuse, N.Y.; and Princeton Partners, Princeton, N.J. Haggman, Manchester, Mass., had handled the account.
Best Cellars Selects Weiss Stagliano
NEW YORK–Weiss Stagliano Partners, here, has landed integrated ad duties for Best Cellars wine retailers. The assignment came after a review that included New York shops M&C Saatchi and Wieden + Kennedy, said Josh Wesson, co-CEO of Best Cellars. “They understood almost instantaneously who we are and what we do,” Wesson said. In addition to print ads, Weiss Stagliano will produce collateral, direct marketing and guerrilla marketing. Outside media partner
CIA Medianetwork, here, will handle media buying. Billings, about $1-2 million to start, will grow as Best Cellars expands to more than 20 stores next year, Wesson said.
Burnett Breaks Out LeoHealth
CHICAGO–Leo Burnett has formed a new consumer healthcare-marketing division, LeoHealth. The unit will represent more than $150 million in billings for clients including Pharmacia/Pfizer’s Celebrex, Eli Lilly’s Prozac, and Aventis’ Allegra prescription medications, and will also handle Parmavite’s Nature Made Vitamins and Procter & Gamble’s Metamucil and Pepto-Bismol accounts.
Newswire Roundup
Hoovers Online has placed its $10-12 million advertising account in review, less than a year after launching its first national branding campaign from GSD&M. A source said the Austin, Texas-based provider of online company and financial information has narrowed to three finalists: Publicis, Dallas; Temerlin McClain, Irving, Texas; and TFA/Leo Burnett, Austin. Bob Molineaux, a former associate partner at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco, has left the agency to direct client services at Citron Haligman BedecarrE. Brad Brinegar, president and chief executive officer of Lowe Lintas & Partners, Chicago, until the office closed earlier this year, rejoined Leo Burnett USA as the agency’s chief operating officer. Two of the Southwest’s largest agencies have unveiled interactive divisions this month. Houston-based Fogarty Klein Monroe has established an alliance with Insource Technology Corp., also in Houston, to offer Web-
marketing services as e2Focus. Cranford Johnson Robinson Wood in Little Rock, Ark., has formed a digital division, imazing!CRJW. Bullhorn.com, Boston, has named Bill Lynn executive vice president of marketing. Lynn had been a senior vice president at Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopulos in Boston. Bullhorn.com, an online creative marketplace, is reviewing its $3-4 million account after splitting with the Boston office of Deutsch
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