Toronto ad agency mbl/bbdo has bought a majority share of The Gaylord Group’s promotional marketing operations, and Spectrum Public Relations, which has been handling promotions for bbdo until now, will be merged into Gaylord.
Kevin Astle, president of Gaylord of Toronto, and partner Murray Cresswell will retain ownership of parent company The Gaylord Group in order to continue to work with government clients Health and Welfare Canada and the Ontario Lottery Corporation.
Astle says the addition of Spectrum to Gaylord is a good fit because Gaylord has moved into direct and event marketing on a larger scale the past few years and the public relations capabilities of Spectrum will help build that side of the business.
He also says there will not be a name change for Gaylord, and the company will not move, although later evaluation may show that a move closer to bbdo may be feasible.
Gaylord is in the west end of Toronto, while bbdo is downtown.
Other Gaylord clients include Canada Dry, T.J. Lipton, Hershey, Sears, and its most recent addition, KFC Canada.
Astle says there is no conflict between Canada Dry and bbdo’s Pepsi account, because, while Canada Dry is bottled by Coca-Cola in Western Canada, it is bottled in the East by Pepsi.
Gaylord also previously worked for Coca-Cola, but began pulling back from the business about six months ago when talks with bbdo began.
