Jan 13, 2004 12:00 PM, By Betsy Spethmann

Grey Global Group last week entered a joint venture with food broker Crossmark to merge Grey's promotion agency, J. Brown/LMC Group, with Crossmark's marketing division, Crosscut Marketing.

The merger forms a new shop, The J. Brown Agency, based in Stamford, CT. The deal combines J. Brown's promotion and account-specific marketing expertise with Crosscut's in-store merchandising and retail research expertise.

"This is a true marriage of marketing and sales," says J. Brown CEO Jon Kramer. Crosscut's Plano, TX, headquarters becomes The J. Brown Agency's Dallas office, with Crosscut veteran Jim Norred as J. Brown president; he had been Crosscut president.

The merger gives J. Brown access to Crosscut's 6,400 merchandisers in the U.S. (10,000 globally) and in-depth sales data. That lets J. Brown measure sales within 24 hours to gauge in-store promo results, says Kramer. The data also helps J. Brown plan account-specific campaigns. "Now we know before any promotional planning what has to be done for each retailer to insure in-store execution," Kramer says.

"Crossmark's deep expertise working with the nation's leading supermarket, mass merchandiser, convenience and drug chains extends J. Brown's promotion ideas through unprecedented retail knowledge and in-store expertise," says Grey Chairman-CEO Ed Meyer in a statement.

The merger gives Crossmark more promotion expertise to serve packaged goods clients. Food brokerages have faced increasing competition as CPGs consolidate, and many use their own sales forces to serve top retailers directly, leaving brokerages to serve lower-tier retailers. Brokerages have been building their marketing chops since the late 90s to better compete. Top firms have grown internal marketing departments. This is the first merger between a brokerage and promotions agency in the U.S.

J. Brown/LMC Group ranked No. 35 in the 2003 PROMO 100 with estimated 2002 revenues of $29.5 million, down 5% from 2000. Clients include Kraft Foods, Hewlett-Packard, Dannon, Guinness, Slim-Fast and Del Monte.

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