Advertising world has to learn the rules of conflict resolution.(consolidation may bring rivals under the same agency)(Brief Article)(Editorial)

Advertising Age, August, 2001 by Hatfield, Stefano

Advertising age's Viewpoint page last week roundly criticized Interpublic Group of Cos. for working with both PepsiCo and Coca-Cola Co., and it exhorted Coke executives to force Interpublic to resign its Pepsi brands-although Coke was then to sweeten this bitter pill by handing Interpublic more business as a reward.

I take issue with that view

Until you read the headline on the editorial, ``Interpublic's Pepsi challenge,'' you might not have known that Interpublic worked for both marketing giants. Obvi-ously, the Interpublic subsidiary McCann-Erickson Worldwide has a long and (in)famous association with Coke.

But Pepsi?

The approximately $119 million worth of PepsiCo business that Interpublic now holds came to it through PepsiCo's...

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