CHICAGO: GCI has acquired corporate, healthcare and property PR
specialist Dragonette - the latest in a string of purchases it has made
this year.
Chicago-based Dragonette counts 30 staff and a fee income of about
pounds 2.1 million. Its clients include Glaxo Wellcome and GE
Capital.
The agency has worked with GCI on an informal affiliate basis for the
past six months and handles mid-Western PR for GCI’s global account with
British Airways.
Under the takeover deal, GCI’s existing Chicago healthcare outfit, GCI
Healthcare Chicago, will be folded into the rebranded GCI
Dragonette.
Dragonette chairman Joseph Dragonette - a former president of Edelman PR
Worldwide’s Chicago office - and president Rita Hoey both remain in
their current posts.
Justifying the sale, Hoey said: ’We’ve been a very successful mid-sized
agency, but factors are changing in the marketplace: our clients want
global resources and expanded services - not just healthcare, but
expertise in interactive technology, for example.’
Edited by David McCormack.
