CANADIAN AGENCY GETS BIG JOB IN U.S.
By Adnews Staff
Firstcom Marketing Inc. got a $6-million Christmas gift this month: the in-store merchandising accounts for two retail chains owned by ARCO in the U.S. The Toronto agency will start off the year looking for office space in Orange County, California. It's going to need people in place to service the twenty-four-hour convenience store chain that goes under the name am/pm mini markets, and the Smog Pros garages which check car emissions to make sure they adhere to California state law. Am/pm mini markets has 1,000 stores in five western states: California, Arizona, Oregon, Washington and Nevada. Smog Pros has about 200 outlets in California. Firstcom won the ARCO business in a competition with Highway One Marketing of Los Angeles and Gage Marketing of Minneapolis. This is the first time ARCO has used an agency for in-store advertising; it previously did the job in-house. "They wanted to enhance what they were doing and have more integration with their brand advertising," Firstcom president Dan Plouffe told Adnews this week. Arco's ad agency is Rubin Postaer & Associates of Santa Monica, California. Firstcom approached ARCO on the urging of Firstcom Cato Johnson, a U.S. sister shop in the Young & Rubicam organization. Firstcom Cato was invited to pitch but didn't feel it was suitable for the job. With an office in California, the Toronto agency will be looking for more U.S. business.