Stock May Be Part of Compensation
NEW YORK–Indulge.com, a Web-based luxury cosmetics and accessories retailer, has selected AG as its agency, with the likelihood the shop will take a stake in the company once it goes public.
Cathy Taylor, Indulge.com’s chief executive, said the client considered Gotham, Kirshenbaum Bond & Partners, both in New York, and three or four other undisclosed shops for the planned $20 million assignment. AG here is expected to handle marketing for the Oct. 1 launch of the site.
The agency and client are discussing whether stock might make up a portion of AG’s compensation arrangement. “We haven’t finalized that, so I can’t comment, but we would love for [AG chairman Peter Arnell] to be a partner of ours,” said Taylor.
The move represents a growing pattern in agency-client relationships in the dot-com arena and would dovetail with Arnell’s recent repositioning of his shop as a think tank for innovative ways of adding value to clients’ businesses. Taylor said AG was picked primarily because of its “unbelievable creative ability and their understanding of branding and new media.” She said Arnell would spend “50 percent of his time on the project because he is so intrigued by this site and what indulgence means in life.” Arnell could not be reached.
AG is becoming a specialist in luxury clients for whom indulgence is a theme. Its latest work for Movado’s Concord watches focus on people who can afford to live the tag, “Be late.”
Taylor was previously CEO at footwear concern Cole-Haan and vice president of retail at Niketown.
Indulge was formed via a July merger with MyBasics.com, an online drugstore whose assets will be joined under Indulge’s brand. MyBasics worked with Holland Advertising here before parting in February. An expected account shift to Hill, Holliday became only a 90-day consulting gig, said Chuck Kushell, president of the New York shop.
AG Gets to Indulge
