Agency News

NEW YORK Grey Advertising in New York has created a $60 million ad campaign for Danbury, Conn.-based furniture maker Ethan Allen. A TV spot titled "Listen" features five chairs. A word expressing the emotion behind each design is superimposed over each chair. For example, a black-and-white contemporary chair features the phrase "I scream," while a Parisian chair is coupled with the sentence, "I speak French." The tagline: "Everyone's at home with Ethan Allen." Young & Rubicam's new ad campaign for Xerox features TV actor John O'Hurley and a slightly altered tagline: "The document company" is now "the digital document company." O'Hurley, who portrayed Elaine's eccentric boss J. Peterman on Seinfeld, wears a toga and peers through a reflecting pool at offices where Xerox equipment is used to solve everyday problems. He is shadowed by a group that resembles a Greek chorus. Four 60-second TV spots broke this month; print ads will follow in January. The TV budget was $25 million. The executive creative director was Gary Conway; creative director, copywriter Barry Hoffman; copywriter Mike Macina; and art director Tom Schwartz. Saatchi & Saatchi's latest work for Procter & Gamble bran Tide features a new formula designed to clean filthy clothes without sullying other garments in the load. A TV spot and print ad from the New York shop for Clean Rinse Tide retain the tagline, "It's got to be Tide." M&C Saatchi in New York will be airing two new TV spots in the U.S. for British Airways. The 30-second spots have already appeared in the United Kingdom. The branding effort retains the tagline, "The world's favourite airline." In one execution, a group of uniformed kids in a classroom having fun are identified as future BA passengers. Bates USA, based in New York, has completed its acquisition of The Churchill Group, a business-to-business public relations, advertising and research firm based in Houston. Churchill has a staff of 40 and reports billings of $5 million. District Two of the American Advertising Federation will roast Young & Rubicam chief executive Peter Georgescu tonight at Windows on the World in Manhattan's World Trade Center. An invitation pokes fun at the agency's initial public offering in May: "If you've got any dirt on Peter Georgescu, now's the time to go public." On what looks like a stock certificate is the statement, "This is to certify that the bearer is entitled to share in the roasting, lambasting and public verbal flogging" of Georgescu. Guest roasters will include DDB Needham chief executive Keith Reinhard, BBDO Worldwide chairman Allen Rosenshine, Sears, Roebuck & Co. chief executive Arthur Martinez and CBS Corp. chief executive Michael Jordan. The second annual "Madison Avenue Sellout" raised more than $200,000 from the auction of merchandise, memorabilia, trips and services donated by ad executives and marketers. More than 600 people attended the Oct. 8 event, including organizers Richard Kirshenbaum of Kirshenbaum Bond & Partners and Sharon Spielman of Jerry Fields Associates, onetime Snapple spokeswoman Wendy Kaufman and Deutsch chief executive Donny Deutsch, who bid the most for a week in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico ($6,500). The proceeds will benefit a select group of AIDS charities, including God's Love We Deliver. Transfusion, New York, has been named agency of record for Afilliated Animal Health, a group of 15 veterinary hospitals. Based in Staten Island, the group is in the process of expanding to New Jersey, Westchester and Long Island. New York public relations shop Bogen has been tapped by T3 Media, a New York-based Web integrator. The client develops Internet solutions for clients such as American Express, Microsoft, AlliedSignal and Sony. New York shop Korey Kay & Partners breaks the first advertising for The Journal News, a new daily newspaper formed from the merger of Gannett Suburban Newspapers' 10 titles. The first spot, titled "Scoop," compares The Journal News' coverage of Westchester County news to newspaper journalism before the advent of TV and radio. The second spot, set on a commuter train, compares the Gannett entry's mix of local, national and international news to the contents of its New York-based competitors. The tagline on all TV and print spots: "How you know." The National Alliance of Sales and Marketing Executives, New York, honored five marketers last week with induction into the National Sales and Marketing Hall of Fame: Martin Sorrell, chief executive officer, WPP Group; Herbert Kelleher, president and chief executive officer, Southwest Airlines; Arthur Martinez, chairman and chief executive officer, Sears, Roebuck & Co.; Andrall Pearson, chairman and chief executive officer, Tricon Global Restaurants; and Martha Stewart. EZ Seek has tapped Topline, Ronkonkoma, as its media buying and event marketing agency. A unit of Cablevision Systems, EZ Seek is an Internet event listing service based on Long Island. Spectacolor Communications in New York has created a new animated advertising display for Fleet Bank in Manhattan's Times Square. The 98-foot-long by 24-foot-wide sign is a replica of an automated teller machine, complete with bank card and $20 bill. Omnicom unit The Health and Medical Communcations Group, New York, has formed a new medical education and communications company called Innovative Medical Education. The Conference Board in New York will host its 1998 Marketing Conference from Oct. 20-21 at The Waldorf-Astoria in New York. Senior executives from companies such as Colgate-Palmolive, IBM and The Clorox Co. will participate. Kwik International Color, New York, has created two large-format billboards for client Prudential one day after the stock market's 512-point drop on Aug. 30. The purpose of the billboards, which appeared Sept. 1 and Sept. 3 outside the Lincoln and Queens Midtown tunnels, was to reassure investors. The Time Hotel, New York, has selected New York shop Toolbox as its advertising agency of record. The 1999 International Andy Awards has set its entry deadlines: Domestic entries will be accepted through Friday, Nov. 6; international entries through Friday, Dec. 4; and student entries through Friday, Dec. 11. NEW JERSEY Parsippany-based Harrison Wilson & Associates has formed e-CME, an interactive healthcare marketing division. Trombone Associates, Mahwah, has been tapped by Web site 1800usahotels.com as its public relations agency. PENNSYLVANIA Toews Corp., a Philadelphia-based asset management firm, has tapped Cramp + Tate, Philadelphia, as its advertising agency. The shop will develop a corporate positioning and identity program for the client. Ketchum Advertising in Pittsburgh was selected to handle the $3 million marketing communications account of Kalamazoo, Mich.-based Eaton Corp.'s truck components group. The shop plans to break new print work for Eaton in the spring of 1999. White, Good & Co., Lebanon, has been tapped to handle integrated marketing communications for Alexander Julian in Ridgefield, Conn. The agency's primary focus will be Alexander Julian Home Colours, a line of furniture, lamps, towels, mattress sets, rugs, wood flooring and wallcoverings. Jeremy's MicroBatch Ice Creams selected The Weightman Group in Philadelphia to provide strategic counseling, brand planning, media buying, creative design and public relations duties. Sharavsky & Co. in Lafayette Hill has created a fourth-quarter motivational video for client Zany Brainy titled "Break the Pattern." The video chronicles the chain's achievements over the past year and features 16 children, 11 executive interviews and store footage. Philadelphia-based real estate company Plumer & Associates has chosen Signature Communications in Philadelphia to take on print advertising and direct mail tasks. Wayne-based advertising and strategic marketing agency Boyd-Tamney-Cross Communications has renewed its sponsorship of the Legg Mason Classic charity golf tournament. As advertising partner, the agency creates ads and handles public relations for the event. CONNECTICUT Market research firm NFO Worldwide in Greenwich has acquired Donovan Research, an Australian company specializing in consumer goods, public policy, tourism and customer satisfaction. The deal is valued at more than $1 million, according to NFO officials. Under terms of the agreement, all Donovan principals will remain on board. Cashman & Katz in Glastonbury has signed the Center for Culinary Arts of the Morse School of Business in Cromwell to an affiliation with Connecticut InFocus, a focus group subsidiary that the agency opened in June. "An alliance with a first-rate culinary arts school means we can manage the full range of research functions for food clients, from small focus groups to large-scale taste testing," said Mary Ann Pacocha, director of Connecticut InFocus. Phoenix Display, a marketing, merchandising and point-of-purchase display company based in West Deptford, N.J., has opened its fifth U.S. regional office in Stamford.

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