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| The Marquette Building |
WPP is creating a campus in Detroit, leasing 150,000 square feet in the Marquette Building, directly across from TCF Center. The campus, which is slated to open in late 2020, brings together the company’s agencies in the city, which include GTB, VMLY&R, Burrows, Hudson Rouge, Iconmobile, Xaxis and Zubi. They will work with Ford Motor Company, WPP’s largest client, which is planning a campus near the new WPP location. The Detroit campus will be the company’s tenth in North America, and the fifth to be unveiled in the last two years. “As the renewal of Detroit accelerates, we hope to become a destination for creative thinkers and innovators,” said WPP chief executive officer Mark Read.
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D/CAL, a strategic creative agency co-founded by professional skateboarder Tony Hawk, and proprietary consumer intelligence platform Apollo Program are partnering to bring industry-exclusive behavioral insights and creative services to brands. The partnership combines insights from D/CAL’s Cultural Advisory Board with Apollo’s quantitative ability to assess consumer behavior. While each firm remains independent, they believe this combination creates a strategic advantage for both firms’ current and future client partners. “Our network knows what kinds of music, food, causes, art and other categories audiences are into right now, but Apollo brings that validating gut check,” said D/CAL co-founder Adam Wilson.
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| Michelle Olson |
Lambert has acquired a portion of Fingerpaint’s Phoenix-based business. The Fingerpaint team that will be moving to Lambert is led by Michelle Olson, who previously led Fingerpaint’s Phoenix office. Lambert is not taking over Fingerpaint’s Phoenix location. Olson’s team specializes in PR, brand journalism and integrated communications, and brings key clients in automotive & mobility and real estate, while expanding Lambert’s national footprint. Lambert’s new office joins its Michigan offices in Grand Rapids, Detroil and Lansing. The agency also acquired Owen Blicksilver Public Relations last year, giving it a New York presence. The Phoenix office will serve a roster of existing regional and national clients in addition to functioning as Lambert’s West Coast platform.
DJE Holdings, parent of Edelman and Zeno, launches RUTH as an independent shop named after Ruth Edelman, mental health advocate, wife and longtime business partner of Dan Edelman.
New York City PR firms make up the largest slice of O'Dwyer's 147 firm overall ranking with 33 of 40 in the New York/New Jersey area either calling Manhattan their home or having a presence there.
Subject Matter+Kivvit, which joined forces in May, has rebranded as Avoq, an integrated shop with more than 200 professionals in Washington, New York, Asbury Park (NJ), Miami and Chicago.
While PR pros stationed at in-house comms. teams and those working for agencies share many of the same objectives, they also have markedly different top priorities, according to a recent report.
Edelman is cutting 240 employees or about four percent of its workforce to cope with the cooling down of the PR sector, according to a memo from CEO Richard Edelman.
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