Reports earlier this week had mooted a merger of the two agencies. Now Bernadin has sent a memo to staff saying that "steps have been taken to bring about a Bozell/Lowe merger".
This includes moving all of Bozell's clients, which include Verizon and the "Got Milk" campaign, to Lowe. The only exception is the $170m (拢103m) Bank of America account. Lowe handles the global account for HSBC, so Bank of America is likely to be moved to another Interpublic agency.
Bernadin is reported to be in line for a senior position at the merged agency, but in the memo he told staff: "I still don't have the answers to all of the questions you would like answered".
The Bozell brand name looks set to go with the merger -- the second long-standing brand to disappear from Madison Avenue in recent months. Last year, Publicis Groupe announced it was closing D'Arcy after almost 100 years, following Publicis' takeover of Bcom3.
Bozell will be the second agency name to disappear into Lowe. Ammirati Puris Lintas was merged with Lowe several years ago, creating Lowe Lintas before the Lintas name was eventually dropped.
Interpublic is in the process of selling its market research arm NFO WorldGroup. It acquired Bozell in 2001 when it bought True North.
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