SMW GOES GLOBAL
By Adnews Staff
Montreal-based Publicis Canada has bought a 75% stake in SMW Advertising of Toronto. SMW made the move because as an independent agency it was difficult to gain accounts as more and more clients look on an international level, SMW president Rob Lawrie told Adnews yesterday. The agreement gives SMW more resources and new opportunities, he said. Under the deal, SMW will be renamed Publicis SMW and will be merged with Publicis BCP of Toronto. The BCP office will be moved into the SMW office. BCP president Geoff Arnoldi will become managing director of Publicis Source, a creative strategic planning concept of Publicis Canada. Both Lawrie and Arnoldi will become members of the Publicis Management Committee. On the client side, Lawrie said the clients of both agencies are very happy about the deal. "They get the same ethic and value system, but with more resources brought to the table." However, some things still need to be resolved because of some indirect conflicts. For example, BCP's Montreal office handles advertising for Chrysler Canada in Quebec. SMW has Toyota's Lexus business, but doesn't handle the product's Quebec advertising. SMW's client list includes the Heart & Stroke Foundation of Ontario, Wal-Mart Canada, SmithKline Beecham, Go Transit, Bayer Inc. and Nikon Canada. BCP's client list includes: Altamira Investment Services, Sun Life, Unicef and Club Med Sales.