Ogilvy & Mather acquires Ben Marketing Group

12 Sep 2002

Ogilvy & Mather North America, a unit of WPP (NASDAQ: WPPGY), announced today that it has acquired BEN Marketing Group, with billings of $60 million.

Founded in 1989, BEN Marketing Group provides a diverse range of marketing and promotion marketing services to blue-chip multinational clients that include Coca-Cola, Six Continents (Holiday Inn), Georgia-Pacific, Lowe’s and Novartis. In the PROMO 100 of Best Promotional Marketing Agency’s for 2001, BEN Marketing Group was ranked #7. The agency has approximately 100 employees working in its Stamford, CT headquarters and Atlanta offices.

"BEN Marketing Group is a great addition to Ogilvy’s existing array of first-class, integrated marketing services companies," noted Tro Piliguian, CEO of Ogilvy North America. "Like Ogilvy, BEN views its clients’ needs from a strategic point of view and develops first class creative solutions that build the value of its clients brands. We’re thrilled to be able to offer our clients the services of such a highly-regarded and successful organisation."

BEN Marketing Group will continue to be run by its management team led by founder Chuck Nardizzi and executives Chris Milhous and Bruce Perlman. The agency will operate as an independent unit of Ogilvy & Mather North America.

Chuck Nardizzi said, "Ogilvy & Mather has created the model in integrated marketing and understands better than any other agency how to build truly successful marketing programs for its clients’ brands. This is a great partnership for us."

The acquisition of BEN Marketing Group continues Ogilvy’s strategy of providing its clients with 360-degree branding solutions that cross all disciplines. BEN Marketing joins a network that includes Ogilvy & Mather Advertising, the 8th largest advertising agency in the world, OgilvyOne, the largest one-to-one marketing services company in the World, OgilvyInteractive, the largest interactive specialist agency in the world, and several other specialised marketing services agencies.