The ATW group has ridden to the rescue of Marshalls Advertising,
whose holding company went into receivership earlier this month
(Campaign, 5 December).
The group has acquired seven of its senior staff along with pounds 8
million worth of claimed billings which will be merged into ATW’s agency
operation, LLS Jaffe Keating.
Marshalls Advertising was one of eight joint-venture companies allowed
to go their own way when their holding group called in the receiver.
The extra business will help compensate for LLS Jaffe Keating’s loss of
the pounds 4 million Waitrose supermarket account to Banks Hoggins
O’Shea (story, page 5).
Marshalls’ biggest client is Toy Options, a major TV advertiser, which
distributes branded and licensed toys including the Spice Girls figures,
an anticipated top seller this Christmas.
Its roster also includes the pounds 750,000 Ruddles Best Bitter
account.
Ann Murray Chatterton, the Marshalls Advertising chief executive,
becomes joint chairman of the merged agency, working alongside LLS Jaffe
Keating’s Walter Timlett and operating out of the LLS Jaffe Keating
offices in London’s Covent Garden. The combined shop claims billings of
pounds 26 million.
Mike Wisgard, the ATW chief executive, said: ’Marshalls has been courted
by a few companies, but I’ve known Ann for the past four years and I
know that she has well-managed and high-quality staff.’
LLS Jaffe Keating was born in May when ATW merged its above-the-line
agency, Little Leighton Sobczyk, with its design and through-the-line
subsidiary, Jaffe. Its client list includes Playmobil toys and Air
Jamaica.
