agency news

NEW YORKEvoke Communications, a provider of Web collaboration services, has parted with Greco Ethridge Group after one year and has begun a review for its $15 million ad account. The Louisville, Colo.-based client has spoken with agencies in New York, Chicago and Seattle and expects to name a new shop next month. There will be no staff cuts in the New York or Boston offices of Greco Ethridge as a result, agency representatives said.Jeff McKay Advertising and Jeff McKay Public Relations, both in New York, will close and reopen under the new name of Jeff McKay. In addition, Jeff McKay will expand its markets to include Los Angeles and Paris.Sherwood Outdoor has signed two companies to join its outdoor advertising roster in Times Square in New York. The new additions are Palm, a marketer of handheld electronic devices, and Savane, a producer of men's apparel. Palm's billboard will join that of Amazon.com on the building at 1600 Broadway, while Savane's billboard will be at One Times Square, along with the soon-to-be-added four-sided TDK sign. Based in New York, Sherwood controls more than 40 percent of Times Square signage. Its parent company, Sherwood Equities, owns One and Two Times Square and 1600 Broadway.A new campaign for Hudson Valley Fed-eral Credit Union in Poughkeepsie is focused on educating consumers about the benefits of HVFCU membership by appealing to their basic desires. The advantages discussed include big-bank benefits with credit union intimacy, options, personalized service, lower rates and a hometown feeling. The campaign, created by marketing- communications company Smith & Jones Mktg/Adv/PR/i in West Sand Lake, includes four black-and-white newspaper ads, four radio spots, two TV commercials and a four-color direct mail brochure. The work portrays credit union members as customers who are satisfied that they have found the best alternative to traditional banks, and have strong emotional ties to the institution and its employees. An Oink Ink Radio radio commercial created for natural gas and electric utility Dominion East Ohio has won a first-place London International Awards statue. Four other spots submitted by the agency, which has offices in New York and Hollywood, Calif., were also named finalists at the award ceremonies. The award-winning spot, "Liar," relies on humor to sell the utility's new comfort-split gas logs.Pyburn has developed and implemented an on-air graphics and display system for CNBC in Fort Lee, N.J., to reinforce the network's position as a business-news brand. Randy Pyburn and his team created a new on-air look for the network and invented new ways for CNBC to visually present information to viewers. The new system debuted in the U.S. in October and will be seen worldwide via CNBC Europe and CNBC Asia. Pyburn, based in New York, is an entertainment company that specializes in content development and creative marketing. The company also works on advertising and design projects.Balchem Corp., which develops and man-ufactures encapsulated ingredients for the food, beverage, animal nutrition and health industries, has partnered with Media Logic to help create and promote a new brand identity, positioning strategy and marketing-communications program. Media Logic, a marketing, advertising and public relations firm in Albany, started the branding initiative by developing a single identity for the Encapsulates division, one of the client's two distinct business units. As part of a comprehensive marketing plan, the agency created a new brand identity and positioned Balchem Encapsulates as a high-tech, international-level, innovative-solutions partner. The shop also created marketing materials, an annual report, public relations campaigns, trade and print ads and a new trade-show ex- hibit with the new brand. The marketing relationship will continue into next year with the development of the 2001 marketing plan and a revamping of the client's Web site.Covi Studios, a New York-based pro-vider of rich-media products and services, has hired AgitProp, a public relations and marketing-communications agency, also based in New York. AgitProp will help sustain the client's edge in the interactive rich-media arena by initiating an aggressive public relations campaign and handling all special events and marketing communications. NEW JERSEYPrinceton Partners has created a pro bono ad campaign for St. Vincent's Medical Center's "Swim Across the Sound" event. This year, the annual summer swim raised $1.7 million for cancer education, prevention, screening and support programs. The event brings together local and international swimmers to cross a 17.5 mile stretch of New York's Long Island Sound. The Princeton marketing-communications shop created a full-page, four-color ad, a 30-second TV public service announcement and a 60-second radio spot for the swim. The agency also placed all the media for the event, concentrating on Connecticut radio and cable TV, as well as print ads in regional editions of magazines such as Business Week, Entrepreneur, Newsweek, Bon Appétit and Fortune. Using existing relationships with the me- dia, Princeton Partners negotiated more than $260,000 in free placements. Lake Capital, a Chicago and London-based private investment firm that specializes in building service-based companies into global enterprises, has acquired DVC Group, a marketing-communications and technology company based in Morristown. Lake Capital, Chicago-based private-equity firm Frontenac Co. and a group of other in-vestors plan to invest more than $100 million in equity in an initiative to acquire DVC and aggressively expand the com-pany's strategic and international capabilities. The transaction closed on Nov. 15.Rosica Mulhern Strategic Public Relations recently arranged a one-hour satellite broadcast on the final move of a famous historic aircraft, Howard Hughes' Spruce Goose. The Paramus firm's client, Evergreen International Aviation, owns the plane and is building a museum to house it and other World War II aircraft. More than 26 million people saw the move on 192 TV stations and cable networks. PENNSYLVANIAJoseph H. Ball received a certificate of appreciation from the Graphic Arts Association of Philadelphia for providing pro bono services to it. Ball is the publisher of Advertising/Communications Times, a business-to-business newspaper, and founder and president of American Advertising Services, a marketing, advertising and publicity firm. Both businesses are in Philadelphia.

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