Post-Merger Cincinnati Shop Sets Management

Post-Merger Cincinnati Shop Sets Management, Wins Business
CHICAGO–Two months after its creation through a merger, Powers/Sive is taking shape and winning new business.
“We’re getting together very, very well,” said agency president Charlie Powers. “The secret is that the agency has been so busy no one has time to complain.”
Powers’ former agency, Powers & Associates, acquired Sive/Young & Rubicam in January. Combining the Cincinnati shops has given the new entity a “better balance in each of the disciplines,” Powers said.
Powers said the talents of vice president/creative director Lori Graf, vice president/strategic planning and branding Scott Seidewitz, and vice president/kids marketing Mark Wesling represent that shift. Graf, formerly of J. Walter Thompson, Chicago, and Seidewitz, formerly of Procter & Gamble, were both with Powers prior to the merger. Wesling was on staff at Sive/Y&R.
“By combining these two companies, we’ve created an organization that has the capabilities of an [agency] you would usually only see in New York or Chicago,” Powers said.
The newly merged shop has already been awarded four new accounts: The Kentucky Speedway, a new NASCAR racing facility opening in the summer; Middletown, Ohio-based American Savings and Loan; Advantex Automation, which provides PC-based systems for manufacturers; and Schmidt-Vogel Consulting’s U.S. operations installing and training people to use computer software.
Two clients have moved their accounts from Powers/Sive since the merger: Skyline Chili and totes/Isotoner both turned to other Ohio shops.
Powers/Sive has an estimated $40 million in annual billings, and Powers expects the agency to grow 25 percent annually. He would not disclose the billings brought in by the new accounts, but he said they put the agency ahead of schedule to meet its goal.
The merger has given Powers/Sive the opportunity to pitch technology accounts, a type of client it hadn’t gone after before, Powers said.
The agency’s client roster also includes Independent Insurance Agents of America, Cincinnati Financial Corp., Baldwin Piano & Organ Co. and Favorite Brands International. The shop has 34 full-time and six part-time employees working out of what had been the Powers office on Fourth Street in downtown Cincinnati.