July 7, 2006

Boulder Valley ad industry gaining East Coast accent

The Boulder Valley is developing a definite East Coast accent with the presence of some big advertising guns from New York and Florida.

Longtime Boulder Valley business-to-business marketing agency Leopard Communications was purchased by OgilvyOne North America in a deal for an undisclosed amount on June 20.

Leopard specializes in helping companies accelerate the sales cycle for complex B-to-B products and services. OgilvyOne is the division of New York-based Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide, a subsidiary of WPP Group plc (Nasdaq: WPPGY), known for customer relationship management and interactive marketing.

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Sherri Leopard, founder and chief executive of Leopard, said a key reason for the acquisition was Leopard’s proprietary Web-based digital asset management tool, Leopard em. It automates steps in the job creation process using workflow tools that help clients share and leverage resources, such as photography and source files. The software centrally stores and catalogs files; distributes materials in hard copy and electronic format; and measures use so clients can understand which materials are most useful to which users.

Sherri Leopard signed a six-year employee contract with OgilvyOne, followed by a two-year noncompete agreement, she said.

She will remain in place as chief executive of Leopard, continuing to oversee day-to-day operations at the agency, which will become an independent unit of OgilvyOne. Leopard’s 100 employees will remain at the company’s headquarters in Broomfield.

The Leopard purchase coincides with Miami-based Crispin Porter + Bogusky moving 400 employees to its new offices in Gunbarrel in July.

This East Coast influence adds to Boulder’s image as a “trend city,´ said Bob Morehouse, owner and president of Boulder-based Vermilion Inc. “I think of Boulder as a ‘wind sock’ – you can see which way the wind is blowing.”

“In some ways there’s been a major agency influence for years,´ said Rick Sterling, president of Boulder-based Sterling-Rice Group. “If you look at our entire creative department (some 100 employees), they are all out of major agencies. A lot of the larger local agencies have been recruiting from that pool for some time.”

Boulder Chamber of Commerce President Susan Graf finds East Coast agency interest in the area both “fabulous” and “a natural.

“People who are creative-class workers are more likely to find the Colorado lifestyle to their liking,” she said. “We should build a whole industry cluster around that.”

Morehouse and Sterling agree the competition is good. “It puts more pressure on all of us to be great,” Morehouse said.

The Boulder Valley is developing a definite East Coast accent with the presence of some big advertising guns from New York and Florida.

Longtime Boulder Valley business-to-business marketing agency Leopard Communications was purchased by OgilvyOne North America in a deal for an undisclosed amount on June 20.

Leopard specializes in helping companies accelerate the sales cycle for complex B-to-B products and services. OgilvyOne is the division of New York-based Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide, a subsidiary of WPP Group plc (Nasdaq: WPPGY), known for customer relationship management and interactive marketing.

Sherri Leopard, founder and chief executive of Leopard, said a key reason for…

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