Lowe and DraftWorldwide Join Forces

While they’re taking pains to emphasize that it’s not a merger, sister agencies Lowe & Partners Worldwide and DraftWorldwide are realigning their global operations to better complement each other.

The alignment combines Lowe, a creative agency, with DraftWorldwide, a marketing services organization with direct, promotion, retail and experiential services, under the name Lowe + Draft. A new unit called Plus will be formed to unify the operations and serve shared clients. Plus will be helmed by Steve Harty, the former CEO of ad agency Merkley Newman Harty who joined Interpublic in January.

The move is further evidence of the walls coming down between promotion and advertising. “When you get the RFP for new accounts, they’re usually asking for the integrated strategy,” DraftWorldwide CEO Howard Draft said yesterday. “This puts us in a better position to offer just that.”

The two agencies, members of the Interpublic Group of Cos., will share the same offices in secondary markets but keep their respective headquarters in the U.S. Draft will serve as chairman of Lowe + Draft, while Lowe CEO Jerry Judge will act as president and CEO. Both keep their current positions with their respective agencies.

Both agencies will continue to operate as separate brands for clients not seeking the integrated services.

Last year, however, the two agencies did merge Lowe Live, the direct marketing arm of Lowe & Partners Worldwide, with the DraftWorldwide London office to create Draft London, whose shared clients include HSBC, Saab and Flora.