French marketing and communications group Publicis is buying two New York PR agencies – Fabianne Gershon Associates and Hudson Stone Group – for an undisclosed sum.
Fabianne Gershon handles corporate PR, whilst Hudson Stone offers an investor relations service. Analysts say that the acquisitions will help boost Publicis’ exposure to marketing services, where it is still relatively weak in comparison with its peers.
Publicis is the fifth largest communication group and fourth largest media planning and buying group in the world. In the UK it owns media agency Optimedia, as well as a number of other agencies.
Meanwhile, advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi – part of the Publicis group – has announced that it is closing the San Francisco office where 60 people are employed. The department will close its doors on 1 August, following a period in which billings dropped to an unsustainable level. The main Proctor & Gamble account held in San Francisco will be transferred to the New York offices.
The Saatchi & Saatchi closure brings recent advertising job losses in the Bay Area to over 100, according to ABN Amro.
