July 15,1998 George Lazarus ON MARKETING, ETC. Burnett adding TFA to boost tech marketing Tradition long was one of Leo Burnett Co.’s strongest suits, whether it was apple polishing plain dishing out apples at for extremely loyal clients or agency reception areas to appreciative visitors. But tradition went by the boards in the 1990s, as the advertising business became extremely competitive. Clients demanded more than eye-catching advertising. Burnett, which is still trying to over-come a boardroom coup - the sacking of its two top executives some two years ago - to its credit has expanded far beyond just cranking out ads. The latest move finds Burnett acquir-ing privately held TFA Communica-tions, a Chicago-based integrated marketing firm that has done fairly well in the high-tech business-to-business arena. TFA, which also has offices in Boston and Dallas, is forecasting capitalized bill-ing of $88 million for 1998, up from $68 million for 1997. Being established is TFA/Leo Burnett Technology, which becomes a business unit within Burnett USA. Some 50 TEA staffers in Chicago will be relocating from TFA’s offices at 444 N. Michigan Ave. to Burnett’s headquarters at 35 W. Wacker Drive. Also moving into the Burnett building, but operating separately from this new Burnett unit, is Corporate Technology Communications, in which TFA acquired a minority interest in 1997. About 15 staffers there are making the move, also from 444 N. Michigan Ave. The TFA deal follows Burnett’s acqui-sition last December of 49 percent interest in Bartle Bogle Hegarty, a U.K. agency with outstanding creative cre-dentials. Other recent diversification moves include formation of Vigilante in New York, a firm specializing in market-ing programs for the urban culture, and the Chicago agency’s minority interest in Williams-Labadie Advertising in the health-care area. Still on the burner is a deal that would link the media units globally of the Chicago-based agency with MacManus Group, the parent of D’Arcy Masius Benton & Bowies. Both share Procter & Gamble, the No. 1 global advertiser, as a client. This move - a letter of agreement still to be signed - is fueling specu-lation that eventually there might be an acquisition or a merger involving MacManus, D’Arcy and Burnett. Sean Bisceglia, who had been chief executive of TFA, a firm founded in 1991, will continue to hold that post for TFA/Leo Burnett Technology. He also becomes a corporate executive vice president of Burnett. Burnett and TFA have shared common clients like Motorola Inc. and Unicorn, but TEA brings along other accounts in the high-technology area, enabling the agency to more strongly focus on growth in that category. Burnett didn’t reveal terms of the transaction, but it probably involves stock of the privately held agency. Next Article Press Archive