Dallas Pros Value Design Skills Of Austin Artisans
DALLAS–After more than a year of negotiations, Hadeler Sullivan & Law here is acquiring Tocquigny Advertising & Design of Austin, Texas, to create a $70 million, two-city agency operation.
The deal, closing in the next few weeks, will provide an immediate build-up of design and print creative skills that chairman David Hadeler has sought for HS&L the past three years. As for Tocquigny, agency owner Yvonne Tocquigny said she welcomes the financial and roster stability HS&L’s buyout gives her project-driven shop.
“I’ve been approached [for acquisition] over the years, but I was not interested,” said Tocquigny, who formed her shop 19 years ago. “I was so impressed with David . . . and I felt it was a really good fit. They offered me what I had been looking for–a partnership with somebody who is really good at the things I am not good at.”
The Austin office will operate as HS&L/Tocquigny, with Yvonne Tocquigny in charge as president and equity principal. Hadeler said the combined entity will have 75-80 employees and share resources, although he added that HS&L/Tocquigny will not function as a service site of the headquarters.
“I felt the need to upgrade our design capabilities and add depth to our print advertising,” said Hadeler. “[But] we did this with the idea that it makes both locations stronger.”
Terms of the deal were undisclosed. The new operation marries Tocquigny’s $20 million in advertising, design and interactive business for clients like Dell Computer Corp. and Hoover’s Online with the $50 million lineup at the 10-year-old HS&L, most notably Subway Sandwiches co-ops, American Suzuki, and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas.
Hadeler said among the attractions to HS&L is DesignHead, Tocquigny’s youth-marketing arm with clients like Electronic Arts, Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network.
Hadeler To Buy Tocquigny
