SAN FRANCISCO: Blanc & Otus is moving eastward, opening outposts in Austin and Washington, DC.
SAN FRANCISCO: Blanc & Otus is moving eastward, opening outposts in
Austin and Washington, DC.
Seeking to better service existing Southwest-based clients Motive
Communications and drkoop.com, B&O set up shop in Austin late last
month, with Mountain View account supervisor Cindi Johnson at the helm.
The agency is currently seeking an Austin GM and other support
staff.
’Our Austin clients hired us initially because we were based in Silicon
Valley - they wanted to make sure they were connected to what’s
happening there,’ explained B&O partner Simone Otus. ’But as they grew
and bulked up their marketing departments, we realized that we needed
account people on-site.’
Austin is the second new location for B&O in the past four months. The
agency, acquired by Hill & Knowlton last February, also opened a branch
on Capitol Hill at the end of August.
Aiming to establish a Beltway presence and grow its hi-tech policy
practice, B&O snagged MCI marketing and communications director Susan
Landis as GM for the new DC office. Landis, who oversaw all of MCI’s
consumer telecom brands, works alongside B&O account supervisor Anna
Matz. Current DC clients include AT&T/British Telecom global venture
Connect, AccessReady, FirstTel Communications and Northpoint
Communications.
B&O also announced the addition of Boston-based Compaq PR pro Theresa
Parenteau, who joined the agency’s headquarters as a VP in the Internet
group.
Parenteau left Compaq last month after more than two years managing the
company’s dollars 7 billion global professional services and
customer-support division. She also coordinated regional corporate PR
support in the Boston area.
