According to Adweek, holding company IPG is combining two of its “regional” shops, hoping, as it has before, that the arranged marriage succeeds.
In a deal quietly in the works for months, Dallas-based TM (formerly known as Temerlin McLain) will now absorb Seattle boutique Sedgwick Rd.
“We’ve both been regional agencies for a long time,” said Jim Walker, president and CCO of Sedgwick Rd. “What it takes [to succeed] right now are more disciplines, more creativity and more talent.”
The merged agency will have about $460 million in billings and estimated revenue of $54 million. The agency will will operate under the TM name until a more fitting moniker can be finalized.
Other IPG arranged marriages include: Draft and Foote, Cone & Belding; Ammirati Puris Lintas and Lowe; Austin Kelley and Fitzgerald + Co.; Dailey and Suissa Miller; and Long Haymes Carr and Mullen.
[FOOTNOTE] Check out how Sedgwick Rd. describes themselves:
Sedgwick Rd. is the alternative to business-as-usual. We don’t try to solve unique problems with boilerplate answers. We have guts. And we practice what we preach. In 2001 we left the safe McCann-Erickson fold to forge our own IPG brand. The result is a nimble, independently minded agency that embraces change and innovation over doing things the way they’ve always been done.
Have they left “the safe McCann-Erickson fold” to find themselves right back where they started? I’m sure they’d deny it. But they might want to pull that copy off their home page.
