Content area
Full Text
As John Harrison, CEO of the Rockville Centre ad agency Harrison Leifer DiMarco, tells it, the firm's expansion is part of an overall vision: Continue searching for other agencies and people who will bring the resources to offer clients enhanced and diverse services so that the agency can grow. Part of HLD's growth is organic, while the other part is through calculated mergers and acquisitions. <P>In 2001, the firm merged with KRS Communications. And this past January, another firm, Erin/Edwards Communications joined the mix. The mergers resulted in about $50 million in capitalized billings and a staff roster of 50.<P>As with acquisitions in any company, the challenge was to integrate the three cultures to work as a team under one structure so they could serve their clients' needs and continue to grow.<P>His partners from the other firms - Roy DiMarco from KRS and Ed Brennan from Erin/Edwards - shared Harrison's concerns. <P>"We all have the same philosophy, but we have different ways of getting there," DiMarco said. "We needed a system."<P>That's when Brennan, who for nearly eight years specialized in interactive technology, proposed using proprietary software developed at Erin/ Edwards in part for managing the creative department to ensure that jobs were delivered on time and on budget, while meeting the specifics of clients' goals. Why not further develop the tool to address the firm's efficacy on a company-wide basis?<P>DiMarco was game, but Harrison, who is not a "tech head," had some initial reservations. "Prove to me that the tool will make business more effective," he told his partners. <P>He was won over after recognizing the software brought order to the three disparate cultures at HLD. It put staffers on the same page regarding account management, budgets, purchasing and more. In effect, the system enabled three companies to solidify a unified organization that shows profitability and growth at a time when other agencies are hurting. <P>But newly merged firms don't necessarily need software to move a business forward. What's important, Harrison said, is for key players to be open to the other partners and to learn from them. On what do you center such discussions? Systems, talents, visions and objectives, Harrison said. These are the ingredients that "make our agency not just bigger, but better." <P>Mergers often work for advertising agencies because of their cooperative environments, said Ira Krause, a principal of Weston Partners, a Great Neck-based management-consulting firm. In other industries, mergers are less successful. "An alpha partner emerges and that could create resentment," he said.<P>Partners of merging companies must hammer out a contract of operations, which serves as a set of rules, Krause said. "You must agree on a common approach and a style of operation to forge a new corporate culture. If you have rules, you don't get caught up in your ego."<P>Although there are prepackaged programs designed specifically for the ad industry, the partners at Harrison Leifer decided that a tailor-made program developed internally by people who understood what was required would better fit their needs. Eric Berrios, vice president of interactive and creative services, built the program using Microsoft Access database software. <P>"Eric is not a programmer," Edwards said, pointing out that with today's technology, anyone could develop proprietary software if they "have the tenacity to put things together."<P>In early March, Berrios began collaborating with staff, determining what they needed in a software program. That discovery period prompted executives to examine how colleagues conducted business. Edwards, for example, realized he wanted to adopt the way Harrison worded proposals.<P>By April 15, Berrios developed a program in which staff records how much time they spend on every component of a project. It also tracks purchases for particular projects. These features allow management to obtain breakdowns and totals of any project at any point in the process. The data helps determine when it's time to move team members around, so that artists can begin strategizing on other projects once a junior associate steps in. <P>The program provides a science to the business of creative services. "What gets you in trouble, typically, is what you don't know," Edwards said. "This creates a timeline and budget that everyone can see."<P>The tool serves as an automated archive, making information easy to access, and freeing up talent to devote more time to serving the client rather than spending hours tracking down old files.<P>"It linked everyone together," said Julie Gelfand, an HLD vice president and its public relations director. "It's allowing the agency to move in the same direction."<P>But initially, not everyone at HLD felt gung-ho about the software. "I was a little skeptical, a little scared and nervous," said Karen Lutsky, vice president of graphic services. "It's hard when someone wants to come in and change when everything was running status quo. Little by little I was convinced it was the right direction.<P>"I used to give estimates to someone else [to do]. They said, 'You'll do it yourself,' but I didn't know how," Lutsky said, adding that she did learn how and found the process more efficient. "If you go to other people and ask others to do things, it takes more time. It's a lot easier if you can do it yourself."<P>Lutsky saw the value right away when entering time spent on a project. "I used to take the time sheets home and finish them on a Sunday night." <P>When asked about the merger, clients seemed to notice only enhanced services. "The difference I see is that the creative team increased. I get another perspective," said Debra Scala, director of marketing at the law firm, Certilman Balin Adler & Hyman.<P>"It increased their capabilities," said Joe Bendowski, president of Mineola-based Van Son Holland Ink, a client of both HLD (and its predecessors) as well as Erin/Edwards. "They do a lot more for us than they did separately. It's very effective."<P>Such comments indicate that the tool is working. "Clients get what they want," Edwards said, "and we get what we need - growth."