
DATE: Sunday, September 7, 1997             TAG: 9709060615

SECTION: BUSINESS                PAGE: D12  EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: HAMPTON ROADS ALMANAC '97

SOURCE: BY LON WAGNER, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   57 lines

COMMUNICATIONS AD MARKET IS SMALL, BUT THAT DOESN'T DULL COMPETITION

The advertising business in Hampton Roads is smaller than in many areas: There is only one Fortune 500 company (Norfolk Southern Corp.), no major bank headquarters, no big league sports teams.

But that doesn't make it any less competitive. The major ad agencies and even their smaller counterparts slug it out for every dollar.

That's why comparisons (such as the one on the chart accompanying this story) of the agencies are always disputed.

A recent Virginia Business magazine article suggested that advertising agencies' marketing creativity ``isn't limited to the ad campaigns they dream up for clients.''

The problem is there is no recognized body that sets standards to make billing comparisions comparable.

``Unless you have documentation, sometimes people will just come up with a number off the top of their head,'' says Eric G. Lackey, president and co-owner of The Meridian Group in Virginia Beach.

Several of the agencies listed here suggest that a prospective client take many things - other than billings and employees - into consideration when looking for an agency.

Among those, a customer might look at the types of clients the agency has. If you're a hotel owner, and they have an impressive list of resorts as customers, maybe that would be a good match.

Otherwise, Lackey and others say, take the billing number with a grain of salt. MEMO: BUSINESS ALMANAC ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

ADVERTISING AGENCIES

A sampling of South Hampton Roads' larger advertising agencies.

Barker Campbell Farley & Mansfield, Virginia Beach: capitalized

annual billings, $32 million; 57 employees; clients: Central

Fidelity Bank, Sentara Health System, Virginia Beach Convention and

Visitors Bureau

Cortani & Morrison Advertising & Public Relations, Virginia

Beach: capitalized annual billings, $15 million; 14 employees;

clients: Stihl Inc., Bryan Equipment, Plasser American

Davis & Co, Norfolk: capitalized annual billings, $18.5 million;

19 employees; clients: Noland Co., Arby's, Bank of Tidewater