4 Remain in $250 Mil. Pitch For Supermarket Account
BOSTON The four finalists that advanced in Safeway’s $250 million review will make final presentations to the client in late August, with a decision expected shortly thereafter, according to Pile and Co. Still in the hunt are WPP’s Young & Rubicam and Havas’ Euro RSCG, both in New York, and Omnicom Group shops Goodby, Silverstein & Partners in San Francisco and DDB in Chicago. IPG’s McCann Erickson in New York and Campbell-Ewald in Warren, Mich., were cut. The business in play includes broadcast creative, strategic planning, broadcast media planning and buying, as well as promotional marketing. The IPG-owned incumbent, Dailey & Associates in West Hollywood, Calif., which has handled both creative and media for Safeway, is not defending.
Circuit City Gives deutschMedia Its $150 Mil. Media Business
NEW YORK Circuit City last Thursday awarded the media planning portion of its U.S. ad account to deutschMedia following a review, according to sources. The IPG agency bested Omnicom’s OMD and WPP’s Mediaedge:cia in the final round. All three pitched from their New York offices. Estimated billings on the business are $150 million. (Newspapers are not included in the assignment.) Hasan + Co. managed the review for the Richmond, Va.-based client. Circuit City, which continues to handle media buying in-house, began its agency search in May.
IPG, McCann Ask Court to Drop Age Discrimination Suit
NEW YORK Attorneys for IPG and McCann Erickson have asked a New York court to dismiss a $30 million age discrimination lawsuit filed in May by former Universal McCann executive George Hayes. Hayes, a 30-year McCann veteran, was dismissed in February, at the age of 53. The agency made a point of saying in the filing that “client accounts for which Hayes was responsible had complained that the accounts were being mishandled.” In pressing for dismissal, McCann argued that the company published “firm policies” against discrimination and that Hayes “unreasonably failed to promptly take advantage of the preventative or corrective opportunities provided” by those policies.
ConAgra Reviews $50 Mil.+ Brands Handled by Burnett
CHICAGO ConAgra is reviewing accounts worth more than $50 million in billings handled by Leo Burnett, and may embark on searches for other brands, according to sources. Under review are the company’s Chef Boyardee ($20 million), Pam ($15 million), Reddi Wip ($15 million) and Egg Beaters ($6 million) accounts, currently handled by Publicis Groupe’s Burnett in Chicago, sources said. The reviews come after the Omaha, Neb., company moved its $20 million Healthy Choice account from Burnett to independent The Nitro Group in New York. A company rep acknowledged several reviews, but declined to say which brands would be affected. In addition to Burnett and The Nitro Group, ConAgra’s roster shops include Omnicom’s DDB San Francisco and independent agency Fogarty Klein Monroe in Houston and Oneseven in New York. Agency representatives either declined comment or referred calls to the client.
Dworin Implores Court to Let Suit Against Deutsch Proceed
NEW YORK Former Deutsch Inc. exec Steve Dworin responded last week to a motion by officials at the IPG agency to dismiss his lawsuit against them. Dworin, who left the shop in 1994, filed the suit in March in Superior Court in Union County, N.J., seeking $56 million in damages. The filing stems from a “non-disparagement” agreement between Dworin and the agency, which he claims was broken in Deutsch’s 2005 book, Often Wrong, Never in Doubt. The defendants in June filed motions to have the suit dismissed. In his response, Dworin lists various reasons the case should proceed, including Deutsch’s introduction of “irrelevant information” about Dworin’s personal life in his dismissal motion. The court has until Sept. 10 to decide if the case will proceed.
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