ROCHE SPLITS WITH ROM
By Adnews Staff
Roche Macaulay & Partners has parted ways with the Royal Ontario Museum, the client that gave the Toronto creative hot shop its start. "Four-million-plus visitors and 34 advertising awards later, we have together chosen to end our relationship to allow both of us to pursue new opportunities," said a release issued jointly by agency and client yesterday. "The Royal Ontario Museum will be conducting an agency search in due course." The museum was one of Geoff Roche's first clients when he started his agency five years ago. It gave him a creative rein that allowed him to produce advertising that brought notice to both client and agency. This led to Roche picking up a string of higher-billing clients, most notably Ikea. The ROM saw attendance go up 9% in the first year it ran advertising by Roche, followed by similar gains in three of the next four years. However, the two parties said yesterday, "For both of us, it is now time to move on."