Advertising agency to stay open for business following news that it would shut down due to merger of two industry giants
Kyiv`s D’Arcy advertising agency has been given a new lease on life.
When U.S.-based Bcom3 announced that it would merge with France’s Publicis Groupe on Oct. 14, it also announced plans to close the D’Arcy advertising agency, including D’Arcy Ukraine.
Just over a month later, those plans have changed. On Nov. 19, D’Arcy Ukraine Director Elena Bakum‑Ramola said that the company would live on as an independent advertising agency. Bakum‑Ramola said that the agency would operate as a division of the D’Arcy Masius Benton and Bowles holding company, which is wholly owned by Publicis Groupe.
Publicis also decided to keep D’Arcy offices in Italy, Brazil and Russia open, claiming that the agency has a strong presence in these markets.
“Ukraine will become another country where a major merger between two media holding companies will not result in D’Arcy clients being incorporated into other Publicis‑owned agencies,” Bakum‑Ramola said.
She said that she was optimistic about her agency’s future and that the agency’s clients had expressed a desire to continue working with the agency.
Oleh Popenko, general director of DMB&B Ukraine, a holding company that includes the D’Arcy, Media Vest, Starcom and Arc Ukraine agencies, said that the global merger would result in the loss of several of D’Arcy’s international clients.
He said that over the past several years, D’Arcy Ukraine had been relying less on international clients, while building a portfolio of Ukrainian customers.
“Two years ago, international clients accounted for 80 percent of D’Arcy Ukraine’s clients,” Popenko said. Today, the percentage of international clients amounts to about 30 percent of the agency’s client load. In 2003, the figure will likely slip to 20 percent, he said.
Bakum‑Ramola said that the decision against folding D’Arcy Ukraine would allow the agency to continue to strengthen its positions in the industry. D’Arcy Ukraine is the country’s second‑largest advertising agency, serving clients including Ukrainian Mobile Communications, Coca Cola, and Procter & Gamble. D’Arcy Ukraine employs 60.
