New York-based agency Southard Communications, Inc. and Fairfield, NJ-based firm Freeman Public Relations, Inc. plan to merge, officials at Freeman announced in September.
The newly-minted agency will be titled Southard|Freeman Communications, Inc.
Southard|Freeman is slated to begin operations on January 1. All current employees will remain and the company will maintain its roster of combined offices: Southard’s current lower Manhattan headquarters as well as its Chicago and Los Angeles locations, in addition to Freeman’s Fairfield offices. The combined entity will staff between 25 and 30.
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Southard president and CEO Bill Southard takes the title of Southard|Freeman CEO. Freeman CEO Bruce Maguire will become president.
Southard, which was founded in 1994, is a full-service agency that specializes in media relations, digital communications, strategic counseling, reputation management and crisis communications. Clients include Thames & Kosmos, Para’Kito mosquito repellent, 888/All American Poker Network and Green Toys.
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Freeman PR was the successor to agency Gerald Freeman, Inc., which was founded in 1955. Freeman’s current clients include Entenmann’s Donuts/Little Bites snacks, Jeep, Petmate Products, ShedRain Umbrellas, PLAYMOBIL and Zing Toys. The agency was behind the famous Tickle Me Elmo product launch in 1996. It recently relocated to Fairfield, NJ from nearby Totowa.
Southard told O’Dwyer’s that the two agencies compliment each other in ways that are “truly endless.”
“Our strengths in juvenile products and tech innovations combined with Freeman’s experience in food and the pet industry makes us a formidable more well rounded agency. Couple that with our combined rich history and achievements/accolades in the toy space and this really makes us extremely competitive and poised for continued growth,” Southard said. “We’re going to take the strengths of each agency to make an even better team and a more complete 360 firm full of incredible people with great experience.”
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