AULT NEEDS NEW AGENCY
By Adnews Staff
Advertising for Ault Foods of Toronto was left up in the air last week after its agency's parent company, The Lowe Group of New York, took its Toronto office, Lowe/SMS, off the job. Ault president and CEO Graham Freeman told Adnews last week that the company will likely look for another agency in the future, but is focusing now on consulting Ault's lawyers "as to what damage this may have caused." Freeman said he didn't even know the agency had resigned from the account until he was contacted by a reporter. The holding company of Lowe is the Interpublic Group of Companies of New York. "You will not see me deal with another Interpublic agency...I've never seen such behavior like this." Last month, The Lowe Group bought a minority interest in Roche, Macaulay & Partners Advertising of Toronto and merged it with Lowe/SMS. Freeman said he only found out about the merger through the newspapers. "Interpublic is not a company that practises their own art of communication very well," he said. Of the Lowe Group and Roche merger, Freeman said "it is the most unmatched marriage of ignorance and arrogance that I've ever seen." Roche senior vice-president Andy Macaulay told Adnews that Freeman was told about the resignation before the press release went out. He also said it was obvious over the past few weeks that Ault was not happy with the merger. A Lowe press release stated "over the last few weeks it has been obvious in our dealings with Ault, and indeed in discussion between them and the new management in Canada, that a continuance of the relationship was unlikely to prove satisfactory or successful for either side." Ault spent just over $7 million on advertising, according to ACNielsen of Markham, Ont.