Gear Shift Frankel & Co., Chicago, expects to lay off some of its 35 Detroit-based employees following the abrupt loss of Oldsmobile's business in late April. Olds returned its estimated $4 million to $6 million account to its ad agency, Leo Burnett USA, Chicago, which will work with General Motors' in-house departments Eventworks and Rworks.

Frankel opened the Detroit office to service Olds when it was named as the automaker's first promotion agency of record in February '97. Olds gave Frankel 180 days notice, per its contract, so the agency will keep working until October.

In the meantime, Frankel will step up new-business pitches in and out of GM. "Oldsmobile is a tiny piece of the GM pie when it comes to promotion," says Frankel exec vp-chief operating officer Dan Rose.

Late last year, GM pooled all divisions' sales groups into a single sales force and its marketing service groups into one centralized staff. The company set up five field marketing regions and asked its lead ad agencies to set up an office in each region. Burnett's field offices and its past experience on Olds' promos gave it an upper hand.

"Olds had to be self-sufficient in the old structure," Olds director of advertising and promotion Michael Sands explains. "Under the new organization, with so many centralized resources, a stand-alone promotion shop [like Frankel] doesn't fit as well."

Despite the Olds loss and the decision to drop its Kraft Foods' business in March after winning the Frito-Lay account (promo, May 1999), Frankel still expects to boost revenues beyond '98's total of $87.9 million. Losing Olds "hurts us, but we've got so much else going on we're pretty much on track," says Rose.

Frankel is looking at openings in its Chicago, San Francisco, and southern California offices for some Detroiters, and will offer placement assistance to others. San Francisco handles Visa USA and some Nestle units, and will have nearly 100 staffers by year's end, Rose says. Southern California continues to grow its Nestle Beverage business; other clients include Fleetwood Homes, AAA, and Unicare.

Frankel hoped to win a mix of business for its younger Detroit office, too, but "it's hard to get multiple accounts in that city," Rose says. "To win the account from an agency like Burnett and get AOR status without a holding company parent is incredible." Frankel hopes to parlay work for GM's On-Star navigation system division into more GM assignments.

Premiere Placement As new president at the PremiereGroup in Redondo Beach, CA, Don Reddin will help companies deliver promotions and other e-commerce transactions through corporate intranets to dealers, branches, and franchises.

"Our challenge becomes, how do you activate and make attractive and cost-effective programs at the local level? Most clients have the computer infrastructure for delivering promotions from headquarters to local branches. They don't always realize the extent they are wired for e-commerce," says Reddin, who honed his marketing skills at St. Louis-based Maritz before joining Alcone in Irvine six years ago.

"This is a small, feisty company that is putting a big focus on the technology delivery of marketing," he adds.

Reddin led Alcone's flagship Burger King account for the past two-and-a-half years in Irvine, where as managing director he also oversaw accounts including Mazda, AirTouch Cellular, and Eddie Bauer. Conflicting views with ceo Matt Alcone on how to run the business led to Reddin's departure, according to several sources.

The 12-year-old PremiereGroup, founded by officers Greg Klein and Brian Shniderson, gained a large volume boost in 1996 when it won Bank of America's account for in-grocery branch development. Other clients are Denny's, PNC Bank, and Fox Cable.

Like One of Their Own Being one of the world's largest toy makers certainly didn't hurt Simon Marketing's cause when retailer Toys R Us named the agency for long-term promotional work. Los Angeles-based Simon orchestrates the manufacture from

China of millions of dollars worth of toys a year for McDonald's promotions.

"We are very knowledgeable about [Toys R Us's] product base," notes Simon Marketing executive vp Paul Marcus.

Besides exposure in the toy business, the Cyrk, Inc. subsidiary detailed its successes with such accounts as Safeway and Chevron during a semi-formal review by the Paramus, NJ-based chain. The 1,488-outlet toy and kids clothing store chain heard pitches from several top-tier promotional firms before picking Simon and abandoning its previous project-by-project strategy.

Toys R Us named Warren Kornblum chief marketing officer this year with a mandate to reposition the brand, and the chain is searching for strategic solutions.

"They were attracted by our stable of clients," which includes McDonald's and Disney and which may provide fertile ground for strategic alliances, Marcus says.

In reassessment mode, Toys R Us is plotting a new store design emphasizing distinct departments rather than the current warehouse style, and has plans to become a leading online marketer. To that end, the company is overhauling its Web site and setting up a custom-built distribution center in Memphis for e-commerce support. "We will see a much more cohesive relationship between all the marketing disciplines" in the chain's future initiatives, Marcus says.

Simon helped gas chain Chevron develop its highly successful premium toy program. For Blockbuster Video, it crafted the Play Pack effort several years ago. The agency is working with Safeway on summer and fall promotions, says Marcus.

Bench Marks We've heard of angels in the outfield, but Ha-Los in the dugout?

Since placing its first dugout advertisements in mid-season 1997, Ha-Lo's outdoor ballfield campaign has rolled along like a ninth-inning rally.

The Ha-Lo logo appears in dugouts in six Major League Baseball stadiums including the homes of the Detroit Tigers, Oakland Athletics, and Milwaukee Brewers. At the Cub's den in Wrigley Field, Chicago, cupholders on each seatback now feature the Ha-Lo moniker as well, says Ha-Lo vp-financial relations Michael Nemlich.

So when the Mets come to play, say, the Cincinnati Reds (another ballpark where Ha-Lo graces the dugout), the TV broadcast beams name exposure to New York City as well as Cincinnati, Nemlich notes.

The goal of the somewhat stealthy billboarding is to grow brand-name recognition with corporate buyers, especially for Ha-Lo Sports, the company's sports marketer and sponsorship management division.

Ha-Lo began its sports signage 16 years ago when it was a $5 million company by placing its name on the back of the Chicago Bull's team chairs in the old Chicago Stadium. The NBA effort today encompasses four other teams.