(Updates with background details, beginning in fourth
paragraph.)
By Emily Steel
Of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Interpublic Group of Cos. (IPG) is in talks to hire Michael
Wall, the former head of Omnicom Group Inc.'s (OMC) BBDO Portugal,
as chief executive of its Lowe Worldwide ad agency, according to
people familiar with the matter.
Wall, a founding partner of Publicis Groupe SA's (PUB.FR) Fallon
London, left BBDO Portugal in March after less than a year at the
agency. If appointed as Lowe's CEO, he would succeed Steve
Gatfield, who has been at Lowe's helm since March 2006. Gatfield's
contract with Lowe ends this summer.
Wall couldn't be reached for comment.
Lowe has long struggled but has started to show signs of
recovery. At the time Gatfield assumed his post, there were
questions about the agency network's continued existence.
Interpublic said Lowe was profitable in 2008, thanks to
new-business wins from Unilever, Johnson & Johnson, Nestle and
others. The agency network has continued to get new business,
securing ad work from both Matrixx Initiative's Zicam and Sweden's
Telefon AB L.M. Ericsson.
(This story and related background material will be available on
The Wall Street Journal Web site, WSJ.com.)
IPG also had been in discussions with Robert LePlae, the former
North American president of Omnicom Group's TBWA/Chiat/Day, to lead
Lowe, according to people familiar with the matter. LePlae left the
Omnicom agency in January.
-By Emily Steel, The Wall Street Journal; 212-416-3707;
emily.steel@wsj.com
(Suzanne Vranica contributed to this report.)