Changes at the Top
Two of the promotion industry’s largest agencies, Cyrk-Simon Worldwide and Aspen Marketing Group, last month announced new chief executive officers.
Since the former’s name is now simply Simon Worldwide, it’s only appropriate that a veteran of that side of the business take over the Wakefield, MA-based company: The resignation of co-ceo Patrick Brady left former Simon chief Allan Brown in full control.
The move was just the latest in a series of major changes at the $769 million company, the most drastic of which was the sale of its Corporate Promotions Group — along with the Cyrk name — to investment group Rockridge Partners last December. The operation, which generated $146.8 million in 2000, was sold for a total of $14 million that included debt assumption of $3.7 million.
The remaining company is primarily the Simon Marketing operation which Cyrk acquired in 1997, along with a few “legacy” promotional products clients (most notably Philip Morris). The pareddown Simon generated $106.5 million in revenues in the first quarter of 2001, including $73.5 million from its work on the McDonald’s account.
Brady’s departure had been rumored about for several months. The resignations of cfo Dominic Mammola and executive vp Ted Axelrod were announced simultaneously.
Brown was named co-ceo with Brady in late 1999, right after investor Ronald Burkle’s Yucaipa Companies purchased a 20-percent stake in the company.
Calls to Simon’s press contact were not returned.
Meanwhile, Aspen Marketing Group, Los Angeles, promoted chief operating officer Thomas Breslin to president and ceo to replace Neal Vitale, who resigned in April. Breslin has been with the agency network since 1997, when he joined as cfo.
Aspen has ceased efforts to find a buyer because “we didn’t see anybody being able to deliver the kind of value that Aspen deserves,” Breslin told PROMO. Aspen pursued a sale last year (December 2000 PROMO) because “we saw other companies getting premium value.”
Instead, the agency’s goal is to “take the set of properties we have now, unite them even further, and prepare a consolidated set of offerings to the market,” says Breslin.
Five-year-old Aspen has become a $250-plus million company through the acquisition of more than one dozen marketing services agencies. The network had net revenue of $79 million in 2000 and ranked ninth on this year’s PROMO 100. The agency will consider further acquisitions, “but very carefully from here. We’ve got plenty of size at this point,” Breslin says.
Vitale left to pursue opportunities in the media industry from which he came to Aspen in 1999.
