BOSTON: Omnicom siblings Porter Novelli and Copithorne & Bellows have made their long-rumored alliance official, with the firms announcing last week that C&B will become PN’s hi-tech division.
BOSTON: Omnicom siblings Porter Novelli and Copithorne & Bellows
have made their long-rumored alliance official, with the firms
announcing last week that C&B will become PN’s hi-tech division.
The path for the announcement was cleared by Brodeur Worldwide’s
decision to operate independently and drop Porter Novelli from its name
(PRWeek, Nov. 8). Rather than co-brand the agencies (as PN once did with
Brodeur), PN and C&B have created a new brand, the Porter Novelli
Convergence Group, which encompasses C&B’s dollars 38 million technology
business as well as an estimated dollars 12 million in hi-tech revenue
from PN.
The new unit will formally debut on January 1, with more than 400
employees and nearly dollars 50 million in annual revenues
worldwide.
’What clients are looking for in the ’New Economy’ is an integrated,
strong technology capability,’ said C&B CEO David Copithorne. While he
admitted that relinquishing the C&B name is a risk, he said that the
convergence of the economic, technological and social forces at work in
the New Economy made the new moniker ’very powerful and evocative.’
In additional to capitalizing on the geographic reach of PN’s
international operations, the merger seems to balance out the strengths
of PN’s East Coast and C&B’s West Coast operations. Similarly, it allows
C&B clients access to PN expertise in other sectors, such as public
affairs.
Copithorne, who co-founded C&B in 1988, becomes managing director of the
group and will also serve on the PN executive committee and lead the
agency’s corporate practice.
