Ace Consolidates Account With Bozell In Chicago

Ace Hardware Corp. moved the creative assignment for its broadcast and print advertising to Bozell here from Impact Communications, a subsidiary of Foote, Cone & Belding, the company said last week. There was no review.
Bozell previously handled media buying for the hardware chain. The agency will become a sister company of Impact under the proposed merger of FCB parent True North Communications and Bozell, Jacobs, Kenyon & Eckhardt.
Ace, based in Oak Brook, Ill., will continue to use football broadcaster John Madden as its celebrity spokesman; his contract with the chain runs through 2000. Ace spent $26.5 million on advertising in 1996 and $19 million through August of this year, according to Competitive Media Reporting. –Trevor Jensen