R&R, Brown, Ernaut to Merge in Vegas

LOS ANGELES Independents R&R Partners, Brown & Partners and Peter Ernaut will join forces in an equal-partnership merger, an R&R representative said today.

The merger, to take effect Jan 1, 2005, will result in the formation of a Las Vegas-headquartered advertising and public relations agency with a 242-person employee roster and $226 million in combined annual billings.

“This is the beginning of a new growth phase for [the] 30-year-old agency,” said R&R CEO Billy Vassiliadis. R&R, creator of the successful “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas” city tourism campaign, expects the expansion to allow competition on a “more national scale,” the agency said.