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"DALLAS and SEATTLE, June 11, 2007 — Calling it a blending of perfectly complementary agencies, Tom Hansen, president of TM Advertising and Jim Walker, president and executive creative director of Sedgwick Rd., announced their merger. Both agencies are independents and part of the Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. (NYSE: IPG). Hansen will serve as president, and Walker as chief creative officer.
The combined resources will focus on innovation, employing a cross-discipline approach to marketing, the ability to invent new ways to reach customers and the development of ideas that build brands and businesses. The agency will also bring an entrepreneurial spirit built upon the foundation of business acumen, which will inspire the team to continuously challenge convention. The agency will be called TM until it is rebranded to better reflect the combined organization.
"Matching the innovation-driven edginess of Seattle and the entrepreneurial mind-set of Dallas gives us a high-energy culture that isn't bound by convention," said Hansen. "We'll build off of a strong core in Dallas and employ the very best people wherever they reside, allowing us to invent an agency that is truly remarkable."
To ensure they were in perfect sync before finalizing the merger, the agencies began working together in October 2006. Both agencies have built on new business success lately, with TM winning new assignments from clients including Discover Network, Idearc Media and Textron and Sedgwick Rd. winning Digeo and Group Health, as well as nontraditional assignments.
"Sedgwick Rd. has a well-deserved reputation as an edgy, creative shop that creates award- winning advertising that gets results. Our work for clients like Washington Mutual and Tower Records is very well known," said Walker. "TM has also done outstanding creative for clients like Nationwide Insurance, American Airlines and Superpages.com but has been best known as a well-established, solid marketing company with strong roots in retail. Together, it's a perfect blend of business acumen, strategic skills and creative excellence."
Hansen and Walker have known each other for years, first meeting when they were at Tracy-Locke in the late '80s, with Walker as executive creative director in Los Angeles and Hansen as creative director in Dallas. Walker moved on to McCann Seattle, eventually remaking that agency into Sedgwick Rd. Hansen left for Leo Burnett and Y&R before founding Square One in Dallas in 1995.
TM Advertising, headquartered in Irving, Texas, and with offices in Austin and Seattle, is an independently managed full-service agency within the McCann Worldgroup, one of the world's largest marketing communications companies. Agency clients include the brands of American Airlines, Bell Helicopter, Discover Network, E-Z-GO, Fossil, Group Health, Krispy Kreme/ICON LLC, Nationwide Insurance, Nintendo, oneworld Alliance, Redhook Ale Brewery, Superpages.com and Texas Tourism.
For more information, please visit tm.com.
Sedgwick Rd.
Sedgwick Rd., a subsidiary of IPG located in Seattle’s SoDo district, provides award-winning creative, brand development, digital services, public relations, and media planning and buying services. Sedgwick Rd. serves as the agency of record, a roster shop or a project shop for companies including Converse, RealNetworks, the Seattle Storm, Krispy Kreme/ICON LLC, the Seattle Art Museum, Digeo, Nintendo and Redhook Ale Brewery. Sedgwick Rd. is located at 1741 First Ave. South, Seattle, WA 98134, www.sedgwickrd.com.
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