$75 Mil. Six Flags Looks at 5 Shops

BOSTON Five agencies are scheduled to make presentations in early June to Six Flags in the review of creative chores on its estimated $75 million ad account, sources said.

Pitching are Omnicom Group’s BBDO in New York and Zimmerman Advertising in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; WPP Group’s JWT and Ogilvy & Mather, both in New York; and Interpublic Group’s Deutsch in New York, according to sources.

Incumbent Doner in Southfield, Mich., is not among the shops in contention, per sources. (It’s ads have featured a hyperactive character called “Mr. Six.”)

Agency and client executives either could not be reached or declined comment.

Six Flags in February moved media duties from Doner to WPP Group’s MindShare following a separate review. In January, Six Flags hired WPP’s OgilvyOne to handle direct and interactive work.

Mark Shapiro, the chief executive at Six Flags, was hired last year to turn the company around after a lengthy proxy fight launched by Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder.

Shapiro is looking to take the company beyond its “theme-park” positioning. As a preliminary step in that direction, Six Flags created a New York-based entertainment and marketing department under evp Mike Antinoro [Adweek Online, Jan. 11].

In a review two years ago, Doner topped independent incumbent Ackerman McQueen in Oklahoma City, as well as Publicis Groupe’s Fallon in Minneapolis and IPG’s Deutsch/LA in Marina del Rey, Calif.

—with Kathleen Sampey and Andrew McMains