NEW YORK—Marina Maher Communications, one of the leading independent public relations consultancies in the US, best known for its work in marketing to women, has been acquired by Omnicom.
Founded in 1983 by Marina Maher, who continues to serve as chief executive, MMC is best known for its brand building work on behalf of consumer products and food & beverage companies—most notably Procter & Gamble—and more recently for its work in the consumer health and pharmaceutical sectors. With fees in the $25 million range, it is one of the largest independent PR firms in the US.
The firm works with NovoNordisk, Kimberly-Clark, Merck, Pfizer Consumer Healthcare and other top tier brands, and last year added new assignments from Kimberly-Clark (for its Depend brand), Merck (its global women’s health franchise), Oneida (for Oneida.com), Pernod Ricard (The Glenlivit, Jamesons, Chivas Regal), Pfizer Consumer Healthcare (Children’s Advil, Caltrate, Robitussin), Procter & Gamble’s Venus, and sanofi-Aventis (a medical device assignment).
The firm has been named Creative Agency of the Year and Consumer Agency of the Year by this publication, and last month received the Procter & Gamble Business Partner Excellence award for the second year in a row.
According to Omnicom Group president and CEO John Wren, Maher and her colleagues “understand the importance of integration, and are equal partners with advertising, relationship marketing and all of the disciplines.”
MMC will become an operating unit of Omnicom's Diversified Agency Services division and will continue to function as an independent business with headquarters in New York.