McCracken Joins DVC

McCracken Brooks founder Keith McCracken will participate as a manager in Dugan Valva Contess’s executive organization while he spearheads the Morristown, NJ-based agency’s Western growth. He will operate from DVC’s Minneapolis office, from which the agency services its Pillsbury account.

“We have a strong need for a better presence in the Midwest and West,” says DVC managing partner Neil Contess, noting that the Minneapolis office could evolve into a full-service agency as business grows. “Keith is a major addition to our senior management team. He brings a wealth of knowledge and experience at a critical stage in our company’s evolution and growth,” says Contess.

Pillsbury is essentially DVC’s only account west of Chicago. McCracken joins Diane Fittipaldi, who directly manages the 20-person staff working on Pillsbury.

Contess sought out McCracken for the job of executive vp and general manager soon after McCracken announced last October that he was passing on management authority at McCracken Brooks, now a True North Communications unit, to ceo Mark Lenss and chief creative officer David Stranberg. McCracken brought Lenss and Stranberg into the agency 10 and five years ago, respectively.

“I’ve known Keith for 10 years and have a tremendous amount of respect for his capabilities and style,” says Contess, who was treasurer of the APMA when McCracken was APMA president from 1996 to 1998. After some “subtle conversations” earlier this year, “Keith came to understand our vision and he liked what he heard,” says Contess.

McCracken, 54, lauds DVC as “an independent agency that has the ability to be adventurous, try to predict the future, and go after it.”

Purchased by Bozell Worldwide two and a half years ago, McCracken Brooks became part of a stable of promo agencies after True North bought Bozell last year. The Chicago-based conglomerate added San Francisco-based Wells Marketing to its promo roster in February.

McCracken Brooks’s management team will now have to decide if a name change is in order. “We have a lot of equity in the name. We wouldn’t have considered changing it except that (Keith) is going to a competitor,” says Lenss. “We would not make a name change lightly.”

Lenss says the agency completed the best first quarter in its history thanks to expanded business with existing clients, particularly the Motorola account gained last year.