JWT acquires Malone Advertising

11 Aug 2005

WPP announces that its wholly-owned operating company JWT, the global advertising agency network, has acquired Malone Advertising, Inc. a leading retail marketing speciality agency.

Founded in 1943 and headquartered in Akron, Ohio, with offices in five other cities in the US (including Bentonville, Arkansas) and Toronto, Canada, Malone Advertising has 200 full time employees. Malone Advertising clients include Bayer, GlaxoSmithKline, John Deere, Kimberly-Clark, Nestlé and Pfizer. Malone’s close relationships with major US retailers, especially with Wal-Mart, provide its clients with a unique path onto these retailer’s shopping floors. Malone Advertising’s unaudited revenues for the year ended 31 December 2004 were US$13.4 million, with net assets at closing of US$1.1 million. This investment continues WPP’s strategy of developing its networks in important communications services sectors.