Marketing Drive Worldwide added a little more weight as promo was going to press.
Parent company True North Communications, New York City, officially announced it would fold its Impact promotions unit into the Chicago office of Wilton, CT-based Marketing Drive Worldwide.
“It’s easier to market the agency under one brand name,” explains Mickey Jardon, president of Marketing Drive’s Promotion Group Americas division. The Marketing Drive operation already includes formerly independent agencies Market Growth Resources, Wells Marketing, Barr Bennedette Group, and McCracken Brooks Maier. All but the last have given up their names in favor of the Marketing Drive banner.
The 24-year-old Impact was a high-profile promotion agency for much of the 1990s, handling major projects for such prestige clients as Coca-Cola Co. and Kraft Foods and generating annual billings in the $40-million range. The agency’s prestige began to wane in 1997, after True North merged the unit with the direct business of its FCB division. In early ’99, True North separated the promotions and direct segments into distinct groups (April 1999 promo).
Impact’s current client list includes Bristol Myers-Squibb, Chase Manhattan Bank, and John Deere. Marketing Drive Worldwide’s roster boasts Visa, IBM, and Gillette.
Impact’s operations will join Marketing Drive Chicago (formerly an MGR office), which will generate combined annual revenues of $12 million and employ 80 people. Impact executive vp-managing director Craig O’Keefe will become ceo of Marketing Drive Chicago.
True North foreshadowed its latest move in January, when it merged Impact’s Canada office with Marketing Drive in Toronto to create a $2 million shop.
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