Hotlinenewswire

ING Direct Puts $50 Mil. Business in PlayBOSTON—ING Direct, the online-banking unit of ING Group, has launched a review of its ad account, estimated at $50 million. Incumbent Howard, Merrell & Partners in Raleigh, N.C., is not participating, said Rick Hooker, president of Boston-based consultancy Pile and Co. Large, creatively driven agencies along the Eastern seaboard and in the Midwest are preferred, but location is not a strict criterion, sources said. About 20-25 agencies have received the initial request for proposals. Castrol Taps Ogilvy for $40 Mil. AccountNEW YORK—Castrol North America has consolidated its account at Ogilvy & Mather without a review, the client said. The business had been at New York-based Hampel/Stefanides. Castrol N.A. is a unit of Castrol Worldwide, which was acquired by Ogilvy client BP in March 2000. Ogilvy handles BP's global advertising. Castrol spent $40 million in U.S. advertising last year, according to CMR. Kirshenbaum Exits $30 Mil. Zenith SearchNEW YORK—Kirshenbaum Bond & Partners in New York has bowed out of the Zenith Electronics review, the agency confirmed. Still contending for the estimated $30 million creative and media account are New York shops Avrett Free Ginsberg, J. Walter Thompson and Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopulos. A second round of presentations is slated for this week, sources said. Incumbent Cramer-Krasselt in Chicago did not advance. JWT and Hill, Holliday are both roster shops of Zenith's parent company LG Electronics. AMD Launches $25-30 Mil. Global ReviewBOSTON—Advanced Micro Devices has launched a review of its $25-30 million consolidated global ad account. Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopulos in Boston and Publicis in London handle AMD's domestic and European accounts, respectively. It could not be determined if the two will take part in the race being handled by West Hollywood, Calif., consultancy Select Resources International. A decision is due by February's end.Dentsu Closes First Trading DayCHICAGO—Dentsu shares closed at $3,795 on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Friday after opening at $3,391. A misplaced sell order from UBS Warburg initially caused the stock to drop to $3,295 before it recovered to its closing price. Dentsu, which owns 22 percent of the Bcom3 Group, raised a net $85 million in its IPO and has a market capitalization of $5.3 billion. TSE officials are investigating the misplaced order. Gowl Heads to JWT to Manage PfizerNEW YORK—Colleen Gowl, group management director for consumer healthcare at Foote, Cone & Belding in New York, is joining J. Walter Thompson, here, as global business director on Pfizer. Gowl will also steer the development of a healthcare unit at JWT, an agency representative said. Gowl starts Dec. 10. FCB's North American President ResignsNEW YORK—Mike Bosman is leaving his post as president, COO of Foote, Cone & Belding, North America, and will not be replaced, the agency confirmed. Bosman, 41, was previously chairman and CEO of FCB South Africa and Africa. He could not be reached.More Layoffs Hit MindShare, Cliff FreemanLOS ANGELES—WPP media network MindShare has completed a third round of layoffs. This time, MindShare reduced its U.S. staff by 3 percent, or about 30 people. The cuts affected all offices, but the hardest hit was Chicago, which reduced its spot buying operation by about 20 people, sources said. Separately, Cliff Freeman and Partners laid off 11 percent of its 110 staffers, the agency confirmed. Cuts were across all disciplines, due in part to the October loss of the $80 million Hardee's account, sources said. Guarascio Joins AdSpaceDETROIT—Former General Motors executive Phil Guarascio was named chairman of AdSpace Networks, a media-technology company in Burlingame, Calif. Guarascio retired in May 2000 as vp of advertising and corporate marketing for GM, the automaker's top ad position. AdSpace, which has offices in Las Vegas and New York, provides digital outdoor media.FTC to Report on Marketing Violent Content to KidsWASHINGTON—The Federal Trade Commission this week is expected to release its third report on the marketing of violent entertainment to children. The music industry is likely to be the prime target of federal-regulator criticism, since it has declined to rate music lyrics as movies do, sources said. The movie industry expects to receive a passing grade. Though regulators have identified several cases where the movie industry did not live up to a commitment to stop marketing adult films to kids, those examples were not movies distributed by members of the Motion Picture Association of America. The FTC released its first report in September 2000, and its second in April. Newswire RoundupAckerman McQueen has opened an international division in response to the recent win of Six Flags' consolidated global ad account. … VTech Holdings has narrowed the review for its $15-20 million educational-toys ad account to New York shops Merkley Newman Harty & Partners and Fallon. Winnetka, Ill., consultant Jamie Pfaff is running the search. … LoJack tapped Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopulos for its $10-12 million account. The Boston shop beat Margeotes|Fertitta + Partners in New York and Mullen in Wenham, Mass., following a review run by Pile and Co. … The Promotion Network was acquired by Omnicom Group, becoming part of the holding company's Diversified Agency Services group. … Rotter•kantor has been awarded the $15 million Playmates Toys account, which was previously at Sachs Group in Los Angeles.

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