Paramount Parks Goes Into Play

Begins National Search to Replace Temerlin
ATLANTA-Paramount Parks has contacted more than 20 shops, asking for qualifications and agency reels, in the first steps to find a replacement for incumbent Temerlin McClain, which resigned the account.
“We’re not letting geography dictate our decision,” said Rob Collins, vice president of advertising for the Charlotte, N.C.-based client. “We’ve contacted a broad range of agencies around the county.”
Collins said Paramount Parks expected to make a cut to “around a half-dozen or so” agencies sometime in May. The company will then hear pitches before the end of the month. According to Collins, who said an agency would “hopefully” be named by July 1, annual billings amount to $10-15 million.
“We’re investigating a couple things,” Collins said. “We may unbundle the account and hire a media buying and planning service, and a creative agency . . . [There] may be a separate creative assignment for the West Coast [as well].”
Temerlin McClain officials have pledged to service the account until a replacement is named.
Collins would neither confirm nor deny statements attributed to the Irving, Texas-based incumbent that it severed ties with the client because “the income can’t justify all the work that goes into [the account]” [Adweek, April 26]. Instead, he praised Temerlin McClain’s efforts and said the split “was a mutual decision.”
Paramount owns and operates one water and five amusement parks in North America. The six locations hosted more than 13 million visitors last year. ƒ