Thursday, January 11, 2007
http://www.mlive.com/mbusinessreview/oak/index.ssf?/mbusinessreview/oak/stories/20070111_prfirm.html
BY MARY LOWE
mlowe@mbizreview.com
Two former partners of marketing and public relations firm Marx Layne & Co. are on their own.
mlowe@mbizreview.com
Two former partners of marketing and public relations firm Marx Layne & Co. are on their own.
Don Tanner and Matt Friedman formed the Tanner Friedman agency and set up temporary office space at 32255 Northwestern Highway, in the Tri Atria Building, in Farmington Hills.
Tanner, a partner at Marx Layne since 2001, had been with the firm for 12 years; Friedman, a partner since 2004, joined Marx Layne in 1998. The duo said they have made contact with clients but would not comment as to whether they would bring their Marx Layne portfolios. "It's too early to talk about that," Friedman said. The partners said Marx Layne's goals no longer were in line with what they wanted to accomplish in their careers. "I think that when we both signed on as partners and true equity stakeholders in the company, we did that for a reason, and that was because we definitely believed in the company and the direction of the company," Tanner said. "And I think that both of us independently discovered at a later point that it just wasn't going to be in the long run a good fit." The new firm will be promoted as strategic public relations specialists. Its staff will advise clients on how to combine their use of traditional media outlets - print, television and radio - with emerging technology, such as search engine optimization, websites and podcasts. The firm will bring on additional staffers once a permanent office is built. In a statement, Fred Marx, founding partner of Marx Layne, said: "We do not comment on other public relations practitioners or past employees as a matter of policy." Harry Cendrowski, owner of Cendrowski Corporate Advisors and one of Friedman's clients at Marx Layne, said Tanner Friedman may not be able to provide full public relations services, but he will use the new agency for strategy services. Tanner and Friedman said they bonded while working on the Detroit Northwest Airlines account from 1998 to 2001. During their tenures at the firm, they also covered real estate, professional services, health care, higher education, communications, automotive and event accounts. "My decision really came down to having an opportunity in my life ...," Friedman said, "to be able to set out on a new business venture where I along with Don have an opportunity to create a culture and create a business from scratch."Mary Lowe covers professional services for Oakland Business Review.
