A Shot of B-12 B-12, which began in 1991 as the below-the-line group at Milton Samuels Advertising, has purchased Sukon Marketing Communications LLC, New York.
Twelve Sukon people will join B-12 in its offices in New York City's Soho section, including cfo Ed Wolf, creative director Bill DeCorso, and Joe Harris, who founded Sukon 40 years ago. Peter Heymann, Sukon's managing director and ceo, isn't participating in the merger. Sukon has been located farther north at 33rd Street.
With clients including William Grant, Bertolli olive oil, and Gibralter Securities, Sukon placed 61st in Promo's agency ranking, with $2 million in 1997 net revenue on $5.2 million in billings.
B-12 has 12-month capitalized billings of $25 million with 12-month net revenues of between $4 million and $6 million," according to B-12 ceo and chief creative officer Scott Ballin.
Sukon adds key management experience to the B-12 staff. "They have people who understand the distance running. Joe Harris is one of the greatest production people out there," says Ballin.
Sukon's advertising and media buying strengths should complement B-12's savvy in event marketing. The agencies seem a good fit, with no client conflicts and similar portfolios in foods and beverages, Ballin adds.
The MSA promo business was a vested partnership with employee ownership. Last year it began selling itself as MSA Promotions Group, soliciting its own clients, and moving to its new downtown site to forge a separate identity. It's no longer related to MSA except as a strategic partner.
The unit changed its name to B-12 as part of a strategy to better position its services, adding the tag, "Your daily marketing supplement."
"We looked at our core brand value, which is creative energy," says Ballin. "We are very synergistic with our clients' ad agencies and try to get involved with understanding strategies and platforms."
Sukon will operate as a division of B-12, keeping its own name. B-12's clients include the Baileys, Goldschlager, and Romana Sambuca brands of United Distillers and Vintners, Pete's Brewing Co., and The Weather Channel.
Cashing In True North forms division to sell its "Cash" brands; Galinos tapped as president.
True North Communications, Inc., has set up a new division to focus on selling Movie Cash and the other "Cash" brands that promoters can offer to consumers as sales incentives.
The holding company named John Galinos president of the new unit, which is called The Properties Group (TPG).
Galinos, 34, founded Movie Cash in 1993 when he was at Ross Roy Communications. He leaves True North division McCracken Brooks, Minneapolis, where he was senior vp, management supervisor, managing its New York office.
Galinos will report to Wes Bray, president of True North Professional Services, the True North arm that comprises all of the non-advertising divisions including McCracken Brooks, MGR of Wilton, CT, and , now,TPG.
Galinos is tasked with developing consumer marketing solutions and selling the Cash brands to other promotion agencies and non-client brands.
"Movie Cash benefits all partners - the sponsoring brand, participating theaters, and Hollywood studios. It dawned on me that others would like to use our Cash properties as a tool," says Galinos.
Movie Cash is based on a network of 17,000 screens. Brands can award consumers free tickets to see a movie of their choice. Consumers redeem Movie Cash certificates from products' packages to receive Movie Cash checks.
The concept has expanded with the creation of networks in other industries. TPG now offers 12 trademarked Cash properties including Video Cash, Fast Food Cash, and Gasoline Cash.
The new division announced its has formed programs for Sony and Citibank featuring its Software Cash and Music Cash marketing vehicles, respectively.
In the effort for Sony Data Media, consumers buying Sony floppy discs get an on-pack offer of cash certificates from $5 to $20 that can be used like regular cash at participating retailers including Comp USA and Staples.
Citibank is delivering 30 million $5 value Music Cash certificates as a reward to credit card holders who can use them at stores such as Sam Goody and Tower Records.
Working All the Angles Atlanta-based marketing company 360, Inc. is building promotional services with the hiring of two senior promo execs. 360 Promotions will add services to existing clients like Home Depot, UPS, and Coca-Cola, and develop a business strategy for bringing in new clients, says Mark Goldman president of the four-year-old, 31-employee agency.
Senior vp in charge of the new unit is Julie Stanwick, who comes from MasterMind Marketing in Atlanta. Brent David most recently president of MC2 promo agency, also based in the city, will direct promo creative.
360, Inc. has specialized in segmented marketing programs. Its Home Depot Kids Workshop, for instance, teaches do-it-yourself skills to kids 6 to 12.
Trend Building Trend influence marketing doesn't refer to sniffing out "trendy" movements, but rather creating trends. The idea is to laser-target influencers in a peer group and then get them to them to experience the brand.
That's the specialty of KBA Marketing, and it sounded a lot like direct to the folks at DraftWorldwide. So the Chicago agency bought KBA last summer and is using it to mesh with its traditional businesses such as direct mail and loyalty programs. It operates as an autonomous unit under president Kevin Berg.
"We are finding there are opportunities across our entire client base to use the KBA scope of work. This is a fascinating alternative to some of the more classical solutions we provide to clients," says DraftWorldwide president Jordan Rednor.
KBA Marketing helped relaunch the Audi A8 three years go with its trend marketing services, building word-of-mouth among peers to involve consumers with the brand. Heads of companies, socialites, and celebrities received cars to drive, and the cars were parked at high-end destinations like fancy restaurants and the Olympics, where they could be seen.
"Many of the celebrities purchased the cars," says vp client services John Deitelbaum of KBA Marketing.
Trend marketing targets people "most willing to try a new product who enjoy and appreciate being on the cutting edge," he adds.
With clients including RJ Reynolds and Nike, KBA hopes to sell services to Draft clients who include American Express and Cadillac, and to expand overseas using Draft's infrastructure.
Question: How has the way you source premiums improved or changed? With the exception of short-run, quick-turn accommodation orders, we prefer to work directly with the factory or original supply source. On that level, premium sourcing has become more complex, because we have to work long and hard to identify the best manufacturers that meet all of our criteria. We prefer this so we can exercise some direct control over the supply source and better ensure that all of the customized nuances of our order can be complied with. - Jeffrey McElnea, ceo, Einson Freeman, Paramus, NJ
We've experienced some major changes which make premium sourcing more of a challenge. Most items can be made faster than ever, but never as fast as our clients would like to get them. Clients don't like to carry inventory , so we are using much lower minimum orders. Price points are being driven down to aim for items that can be free to consumers. - Michael Chadwick, partner, CCM, New York City
The ad specialty market has gotten so clouded with reps claiming to be sole source of a product that we were having a tough time figuring out who truly was the manufacturer. We were sifting through sometimes as many as 10 different catalogs with the exact same product, but 10 totally different prices. With the help of industry organizations such as the Advertising Specialty Institute and the Promotional Products Association, we now have direct access to the actual product manufacturers. This has helped us save time, better control the quality of the final product, and get the best pricing for our clients. - Christie O'Neil, marketing services, Louis London, St. Louis
