Prompted by concerns expressed by its members over the identity of a company that recently initiated an advertising agency search, the Institute of Canadian Advertising is sending out a warning to agencies, recommending that they ‘proceed with caution.’
The notice comes in the wake of concerns expressed by a number of Toronto agencies over missing details in the background of TN Capital.
In fact, executives at The Communique Group, Campbell Michener & Lee and The Gingko Group were unable to find evidence that TN Capital – which, in an ad calling for agency submissions, described itself as an ‘offshore investment and asset management company with over $3 billion under management’ – even exists.
Geoff Genovese, president of Communique and Kevin Meade, new business development manager at cm&l, each has extensive connections in the financial services industries and both said none of their sources could find a trace of the company.
TN Capital’s ad included only a fax number to which agencies should submit their letters of interest in the $1.2 million account. The inclusion of the fax number alone is not, in itself, unusual in the competitive ad industry where the mere hint of a review can prompt a deluge of phone calls from interested agencies. The ad, in the Sept. 30 issue of Strategy, was placed by Toronto design firm Icon Design.
Prior to listing the review in our Accounts in Review chart, Strategy faxed TN Capital a request for more information. The company faxed back a reply declining to discuss details of the company except to say that it was founded in 1968, with its head office in Switzerland and the western region office in the Bahamas and that its product line includes Eurodollar, Venture Capital, lbo and general investment mutual funds. It also supplied the timeline for the agency search.
The submission fax number is that of Icon Design in Toronto; phone calls placed to that company are answered ‘True North Advertising and Icon Design.’
True North Advertising has no connection to True North Communications, the holding company for FCB Worldwide.
Although his search for information concerning TN Capital was fruitless, Genovese of Communique says he decided to fax a letter of interest anyway.
He discovered the phone number corresponding to the fax number and says he was uneasy about the fact that it appeared as if an advertising agency was soliciting competitive information about other advertising agencies.
Genovese says he became convinced something was not right when he received his request for a submissions kit. He says the letterhead is unprofessional-looking and not fitting for a $3-billion company.
In the kit, TN Capital lists its places of operation as Liechtenstein, Switzerland and the Bahamas. The letter is signed by Mr. M. Anthony Eden, Esq. when only Mr. or Esq. should be used, not both.
Eden calls himself executive director, Canadian Operations, TNC Inc. A search by the Ontario Ministry of Consumer and Commercial Relations, Business Division Companies Branch shows that there has been no certificate of incorporation, federal or provincial, issued for a company to operate in Ontario as TN Capital Inc., True North Capital Inc., or TNC Inc.
The address on the TN Capital letterhead is that of a rent-a-mail box at 1 First Canadian Place. There is no phone number on the letterhead but the separate phone number given for the company by the Icon Design receptionist is call-forwarded to Icon Design.
Neither Icon Design nor TN Capital have responded to Strategy’s requests for clarification.
Phone calls to Icon Design were not returned but when reached at his office after hours, Icon president Sal Iantorno (whom the receptionist said was president of True North Advertising) denied that he was president of True North and said that he knows nothing more than the fact that he was requested by his client, M. Anthony Eden of the Bahamas, to place the ad.
Iantorno says True North Advertising was set up by TN Capital or True North Capital to take the review submissions.
When asked why agencies were unable to find any information about TN Capital despite extensive inquiries, Iantorno says the company operates under a different name in every country and doesn’t release information about itself.
He says he was instructed not to give out his client’s phone number but would have Eden get in touch with Strategy.
At press time, Strategy had not been contacted by Eden or any representative from the company and Iantorno subsequently refused to take calls from Strategy. In fact, the receptionist suggested, ‘You’d better not call back.’
There is no personal phone listing for M. Anthony Eden in the Bahamas. Those in Bahamas’ mainstream mutual fund community, such as Sheveon Marche of CIBC Trust Company (Bahamas) Ltd., say they have not heard of him.
