Newswire Suissa Lands Boston Market Business

LOS ANGELES-Boston Market may consolidate the creative portion of its $70-80 million account at Suissa Miller Advertising, Santa Monica, Calif., sources said. The agency has become responsible for additional creative duties for the Golden, Colo.-based chain. Suissa prevailed over another roster shop, Goldberg Moser O’Neill in San Francisco, for a retail assignment. Media planning and buying duties remain at McCann-Erickson, New York.

Aerospace Firm Names Finalists
BOSTON-Four finalists have emerged in the review for the estimated $4 million corporate ad account of aerospace company Thiokol, Ogden, Utah. In contention are Keiler & Co., Farmington, Conn.; Grey Advertising and Merkley Newman Harty, New York; and one undisclosed shop, sources said. Advertising is handled in-house.

Omnicom, IPG Report Second-Quarter Results
NEW YORK-Omnicom Group and The Interpublic Group of Cos. have posted strong second-quarter results. Omnicom boosted net income 25 percent to $66 million, compared to the same period the year before. IPG increased net income 20 percent to $90 million, excluding the gain from the sale of a portion of its CKS stock for $8 million.

Montgomery North Opens to Serve Schwab
SAN FRANCISCO-Montgomery North, a spinoff of Kirshenbaum Bond & Partners of New York, will open its doors for business next week to begin working for Charles Schwab. Kirshenbaum created the Montgomery North identity earlier this year to compete for the client’s estimated $18 million ad account. Kirshenbaum handles the conflicting $40-50 million Citibank account.

Jefferson-Pilot Narrows Agency Search
NEW YORK-Jefferson-Pilot, the Greensboro, N.C.-based insurance company, has narrowed its search for a full-service agency to incumbent Trone Advertising in Greensboro, N.C., McCann-Erickson in Atlanta and Merkley Newman Harty in New York, sources said. The client could not be reached. The ad budget was undisclosed.

TBWA Chiat/Day Breaks Taco Bell Campaign
LOS ANGELES-Taco Bell last week broke its first ad campaign from TBWA Chiat/Day. The agency, hired earlier this year without a review, will use midgets, monsters and slam dancers in an attempt to position Taco Bell for its core 18- to 34-year-old male target market. The tagline is: “Want some?” A spot that broke last week, called “Refrigerator,” is the first of three set inside a stomach. The ads strive to show what happens inside a stomach hungry for Taco Bell food.

Digital Equipment Turns to DDB Needham
NEW YORK-As expected [Adweek, July 7], Digital Equipment Corp. has consolidated its ad account at a single agency, DDB Needham here, eliminating Young & Rubicam, New York, from its roster. Y&R has handled the Maynard, Mass.-based company’s personal computer account. Y&R and Digital said they mutually agreed to part ways.

Tyco Brands Shift to Mattel Roster Shops
NEW YORK-Mattel last week, as expected, shifted advertising responsibility for Tyco Toys to roster agencies Foote, Cone & Belding and Ogilvy & Mather in Los Angeles and Young & Rubicam in New York. D’Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles here was the incumbent. The El Segundo, Calif.-based company was planning to realign additional ad assignments for its Mattel and Fisher-Price brands but company officials last Monday decided to “maintain the status quo,” said a Mattel executive. Sources said more shifts are expected along category lines in coming months.

TBWA Chiat/Day Wins Prodigy Bid
NEW YORK-Only a few months after resigning America Online’s ad business, TBWA Chiat/Day’s New York office has won Prodigy Services Co.’s estimated $10 million account. TBWA Chiat/Day prevailed over three other finalists for the creative and media account: Kirshenbaum Bond & Partners, Warwick Baker O’Neill and Compelling Content, all in New York.

GSD&M Nets BofA Broadcast Media Buying
DALLAS-GSD&M, Austin, Texas, won Bank of America’s $30-40 million broadcast media buying review. GSD&M and co-finalist ICG of Los Angeles made 30-minute presentations last Monday to Eugene Lockhart, the new president of BofA’s global retail bank, among other executives. Lockhart, the former president and chief executive of MasterCard International, was responsible for GSD&M’s late invitation to the review. Lockhart was instrumental in MasterCard’s selection of GSD&M for its domestic media account in 1995. Deutsch, New York, handles BofA’s creative work, media planning and print buying.

Newswire Roundup
Avrett, Free & Ginsberg, New York, has won the $1-2 million ad account of recruiting company Fortune Personnel Consultants and its division, Update Staffing DeVito/Verdi will break a $3-4 million TV campaign for home furnishings store Linens ‘n Things, Clifton, N.J., using the theme “Your back to campus headquarters.” Emmerling Post, New York, will break a TV and print campaign for Phoenix Home Life Mutual Insurance Co., Hartford, Conn., with the theme “Fiscal Fitness.” An animated 30-second spot, illustrated by New York magazine designer Milton Glaser, shows the alphabet letters of Fiscal Fitness lurching and rolling on a cruise ship. The message is that Phoenix can help customers maintain the right balance of insurance and investments Pharmacia & Upjohn, Kalamazoo, Mich., assigned its estimated $30 million Rogaine hair-growth treatment account to Jordan, McGrath, Case & Taylor, New York, and the estimated $7 million Cortaid skin ointment business to W.B. Doner & Co., Southfield, Mich. Both accounts previously were handled by Grey Advertising, New York.