East Coast multi-service firm m5 is set to absorb several former clients and staff members from Bristol Group Inc. after the latter confirmed today that it is shutting down.
M5, which has offices in Moncton, N.B., Halifax, St. John’s and Manchester, New Hampshire, has offered positions to almost 80 Bristol employees, including 48 full-time staff.
Several Bristol executives will also join m5, including former president and CEO Louis Leger, who becomes managing partner at the New Brunswick office of m5’s public relations arm, m5pr. Other senior Bristol management moving over include former executive chairman Rick Emberly, who becomes senior research counsel for m5 and former vice-president Jean Brousseau, who takes on the same title at m5’s New Brunswick location.
Another Bristol alumn, former vice-president of research Craig Wight, has also joined the m5 group of companies as vice-president of MarketQuest-Omnifacts, a new research firm created by the merging of the Bristol-owned Omnifacts and m5’s MarketQuest.
m5 will also take over several Bristol accounts, a list that includes clients such as Molson, Bell Aliant, Hill & Knowlton and Atlantic Lottery Corporation.
Jim Megann, senior vice-president, account services for m5, said the influx of former Bristol staff would make the transition easier for the now-defunct agency’s former clients, as many of the key relationships will continue.
“[Bristol] decided to go into voluntary receivership, and over the past few weeks we have been working with them to ensure that the majority of employees were able to come over to m5 and that we could acquire the resources needed to provide continuing support to their clients,” said Megann.
“It’s a win situation for a lot of employees, for the clients–because they’re not going to be stuck now–and for us, obviously, because we’re able to grow.”
Megann said the new staff additions would not negatively affect existing m5 employees. With the expected personnel boost, m5 will boast roughly 230 full and part-time staff.
As for the shutdown of Bristol, the company released a statement today linking the decision to losses resulting from Bristol Gulf LLC, the Quatar-based office it launched in 2006.
