News Wire

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Citgo Launches Agency Search
DALLAS–Citgo Petroleum, Tulsa, Okla., last week issued a request for proposals to undisclosed agencies for its estimated $10 million-plus account. Julie Anderson, Citgo’s media director, said the company is focusing on shops in the Southwest and Midwest, but that the search is national in scope. Media First International, New York, handles media buying. Creative duties have been handled on a freelance basis since the client split with Bozell Worldwide, Chicago.
BJK&E Costs Mean Net Loss for TN
CHICAGO–True North Communications has released restated financial results for 1997 to reflect the addition of Bozell, Jacobs, Kenyon & Eckhardt, an acquisition completed in December. Net income for the combined company–exclusive of restructuring costs–was $55.2 million, up 26.8 percent; revenues rose 22.1 percent to $1.2 billion. The agency said it was taking a fourth-quarter pretax charge of $131 million for restructuring and merger-related costs, giving the company a net loss of $50 million for 1997.
First Union Review Down to 2 Shops
BOSTON–Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopulos here and Earle Palmer Brown in Philadelphia are the finalists in the pitch for First Union Corp.’s $30 million direct marketing assignment, sources said. The Charlotte, N.C.-based bank has cut Communications Plus, New York, from contention.
Polaroid Looks for Youth Marketing Ideas
BOSTON–Polaroid Corp. in Cambridge, Mass., is soliciting ideas from various roster and nonroster shops about how to promote existing and new products to young consumers, sources said. The company is interested in developing marketing strategies to appeal to teens and preteens, two segments it has rarely targeted in the past, sources said. Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco, is Polaroid’s lead agency. Arnold Communications, Boston, was tapped last November to handle promotional assignments. Client and agency executives either could not be reached or declined comment.
McDonald’s Realigns Marketing Staff
CHICAGO–McDonald’s Corp. has reorganized its marketing department, giving new titles to several executives who continue to report to Brad Ball, senior vice president for U.S. marketing. Dean Barrett has been named vice president of marketing for global alliances; Roy Bergold has been appointed vice president for creative; Dave Baney, who joined from Burger King a year ago, has been named vice president for national marketing. Bruce Smith, vice president for global media, will be one of five executives reporting to Baney. Yet to be filled is a new post responsible for brand strategy.
Miller High Life to Return to TV
CHICAGO–Miller Brewing Co. next month breaks the first national TV advertising in seven years for its Miller High Life brand. Ads from Wieden & Kennedy, Portland, Ore., breaking in spot markets the week of April 6, will position the brand as the embodiment of “simplicity, hard work and common sense,” a representative of the Milwaukee-based brewer said. The budget is estimated at $5-10 million.
Robaire, Hogshead Form Creative Shop
LOS ANGELES–With Martin Creative LA closing its doors last week, two of the agency’s veterans–creative director Jean Robaire and award-winning copywriter Sally Hogshead–are forming a new partnership in Los Angeles. The creative boutique, Robaire and Hogshead, opens today. The pair will offer its services on a project basis to agencies and clients nationwide, in addition to pitching new business.
Newswire Roundup
Greyhound Lines, Dallas, has launched a review for its $12-15 million account, inviting four Texas shops and incumbent The Richards Group, Dallas, to pitch. An official at the bus company confirmed the search but declined to identify participants. Sources said Dallas-area agencies LMS/Marc, PGC Advertising and Temerlin McClain as well as Houston’s Fogarty Klein & Partners were asked to submit credentials OgilvyOne Worldwide, New York, has been awarded the $15-20 million direct account for IBM’s small and midsize businesses, the final assignment in the Armonk, N.Y.-based company’s $125 million global direct marketing consolidation McKinney & Silver, Raleigh, N.C., and parent company CKS Group, Cupertino, Calif., have won a $2-3 million assignment to redevelop the Web site of IBM’s personal systems group. The duo was awarded the business after a review that included OgilvyOne Worldwide, New York, which had previously worked on the business Gotham, New York, has been awarded the $10 million account of Columbus, Ohio-based CompuServe. The shop also handles the client’s parent company, America Online Goldberg Moser O’Neill, San Francisco, has won the estimated $8-10 million creative account of wireless technology developer ShareWave, sources said Cryovac, maker of plastic packaging, last week assigned its $8 million global trade account to Fitzgerald & Co., Atlanta. It is the agency’s first new client since merging with crosstown shop McCann-Erickson last month. “But for the connection to the Interpublic Group of Cos., we would not have been able to get this business,” said agency chief executive officer Dave Fitzgerald Lotas Minard Patton McIver, New York, has been awarded ad duties for Burlington, Vt.-based Bruegger’s Bagel Bakeries. Sources estimated spending at $5 million. The account was formerly at The Richards Group, Dallas.