ATLANTA: Socket/Hill & Knowlton has won the $1 million
Lucent Optical Fiber Solutions (OFS) account, defying rumors that the
firm's presence in Atlanta was past its best.
Last month, Furukawa Electric purchased a large portion of Lucent's
Atlanta-based OFS unit. Socket/H&K will rebrand the business globally as
OFS, including two divisions called OFS Brightwave and OFS Fitel. The
firm will handle strategic messaging, and all communications.
Ogilvy PR and Edelman competed in the final pitch.
H&K was one of the first national PR agencies to open an Atlanta
office.
Since the 1970s, H&K has been a top-10 firm in the city, but had
declined in the '90s partly due to revolving leadership. In 1997, Alan
Ulman was recruited as GM. He stabilized the firm, and engineered the
Socket acquisition late last year. However, his departure in the spring
for Equifax and later Ketchum was followed by both client and staff
losses, and the closure of the midtown office.
New GM Beverly McDonald, Socket cofounder, said, "We're not only
healthy, we're hiring." McDonald said the win is one of four new
accounts at the firm.
