Temerlin Gets Retail Assignment

Temerlin McClain has re-entered the retail category with its win of a branding assignmentfor the Rich's/Lazarus/Goldsmith's division of Federated Department Stores.

The Irving, Texas, agency won the job following a review that included Atlanta shops Grey and WestWayne, sources said. Billings are undisclosed.

Temerlin has not served a clothing retailer since 2000, when it lost the $200 million account of Dallas-based J.C. Penney Department Stores to DDB in Chicago.

"I think this builds on our great heritage in retail," Temerlin chief operating officer Mark Denesuk said, "and it puts us on the front lines of the challenges department stores are facing."

The agency will launch a broadcast and print campaign in the fourth quarter. Temerlin will also handle in-store merchandising. Branding duties are expected to continue beyond the holiday season, Denesuk said.

He added that the television spots for all three stores will look similar, since the retailers are not located in the same markets and do not compete with each other.

The agency's creative presentation "centered around the romance between customers and department-store shopping," executive creative director Eric McClellan said in a statement.

The R/L/G unit spent a combined $90 million on media expenditures in 2001, according to CMR.

The division, headquartered in Atlanta, operates 77 stores throughout the central and Southeast U.S. R/L/G's 2001 sales totaled about$2 billion.