DALLAS: Last week's merger of two b-to-b-focused Dallas PR firms
created one of the city's largest independent agencies.
Cummings McGlone's staff of four joined Michael A. Burns & Associates'
16-member team to form an organization whose combined 2000 revenue would
have totaled more than $2.5 million. The firm will retain the
larger agency's name.
President Michael Burns said the agencies began merger discussions
earlier this year as he looked for other firms to recommend to clients
he couldn't serve because of conflicts. His agency is known for b-to-b
and financial work. Cummings McGlone also does b-to-b, but it brings
some consumer experience to the merger as well.
Brian Cummings and Neil McGlone met while working at Burson-Marsteller's
Pittsburgh office in the 1980s and formed their own agency together in
1999. Cummings had been chairman of Bloom PR before Publicis bought it
in 1997, and McGlone had worked for 12 years as a PR exec at Texas
Instruments. Cummings and McGlone join the agency as vice presidents.
They bring to the merger a WorldCom membership, and clients including
food giant Fleming, Atlanta-based Surgicoe, and project work for Bausch
& Lomb. Burns' high-profile clients include Fujitsu Transaction
Solutions and Daisytek.
