LACROIX WALKS AWAY WITH ENTIRE ACCOUNT
By Adnews Staff
Lacroix PNMD of Montreal went into a review recently to battle for one piece of pharmaceutical business from ICN Canada of Montreal, but walked away with the company's entire ad account. The agency won ICN's Imovane account late last month after a competition with Diesel Marketing Inc. and Sudler & Hennessey/Gall, both of Montreal. Imovane, which is a treatment for insomnia, is made by Rhone-Poulenc Rorer of Montreal, but earlier this year the pharmaceutical company entered into a co-marketing agreement for the product with ICN. When Rhone-Poulenc was responsible for Imovane's marketing, the last agency to develop a campaign for the drug was Sudler & Hennessey. The campaign was developed in 1996, but it was never used. Once the competition was complete, ICN decided to hire Lacroix to handle all of its products. "According to those responsible in the company's marketing department, the way the team conducted itself during the presentation, the depth of its knowledge and its unquestionable creativity convinced them that it would be useless for the company to resume the competition process for its other products," an agency release says. ICN markets 60 pharmaceutical products including hormone replacement therapy drugs and products that treat the central nervous system. Lacroix PNMD is part of the BBDO Worldwide network.