Dreyfus Drops Ad Agency, Hires Another

Dreyfus Corporation of New York hired its second advertising agency in just nine months, after it fired a firm without using any of its ads.

The new ad agency, Holland Mark Martin Edmund of Boston, was hired in early June, according to Patrice Kozlowski, a Dreyfus spokesperson.

"We were extremely impressed with the execution of their presentation and their future plans for Dreyfus," Kozlowski said of Holland Mark Martin Edmund. She said the firm's work should be unveiled later this year.

Grace & Rothschild of New York had won the Dreyfus account in September, but it was dropped after six months, without any of the advertising it had created being used, Kozlowski said. She declined to comment on why the ads were not used.

Dreyfus' ad spending has dropped considerably in the past few years, according to figures compiled by Competitive Media Reporting, a New York-based research firm. In the first quarter, Dreyfus spent only $190,000 on advertising, compared to $3.5 million in the first quarter of 1998. Ad spending for all of 1998 was $11.8 million, down from $20.9 million in 1997. Dreyfus declined to comment on why the ad spending was down.

Through its use of a lion in its ads, Dreyfus has one of the most recognizable brands in the financial services industry, behind only Merrill Lynch and Fidelity, Kozlowski said.

The firm has used the lion symbol since Dreyfus was established in 1946, and has had a long-standing commitment to advertising, Kozlowski said. Dreyfus, in 1957, was the first mutual fund company to launch a retail ad campaign. One year later, in an industry first, it ran a full-color prospectus as a supplement in the New York Times.

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