Arnold Drops Out of Mich. Pitch

To put all of its energy behind one pitch, Arnold Communications withdrew from the review for the $12-15 million Michigan McDonald’s co-op business to focus on its presentation for the Boston regional co-op.
Ed Eskandarian, Arnold’s chairman and CEO, said last week the decision had been made to focus on Boston because it is one of the agency’s oldest clients. It also is one of the largest regional co-op groups handled by the Boston shop with billings estimated at $16-20 million. “When I bought Arnold 10 years ago, McDonald’s was a cornerstone account. We intend to give Boston our full attention,” Eskandarian said last week.
Presentations for the Boston McDonald’s group are scheduled for later this month in a review being managed by Pile and Co., Boston. Contenders, the identities of which have not been disclosed, are believed to include other McDonald’s roster shops.
In all, Arnold handles an estimated $130 million in local McDonald’s billings from some 20 regional owner/operator groups. Two weeks ago in Richmond, Va., Arnold lost another when Dallas-based Moroch & Associates swept in to claim that group. Moroch handles other co-ops in that region and the move was seen as a consolidation. Moroch, in conjunction with Leo Burnett in Chicago, is now making a run at the Detroit group that Arnold is walking away from. Other contenders for that group include Hoffman/Lewis in San Francisco and Kragie-Newell in Des Moines, Iowa. K