A win...
On Wednesday, Blackie McDonald announced it had won five-year-old Australian-based financial services software provider, InfoComp.

The deal will see Blackie staff focusing on increasing InfoComp's brand and product awareness in Australia, and also supporting InfoComp's expansion into Asia and the UK, a statement read.

In the statement, Tony Blackie was quoted as follows:
"Winning InfoComp builds on the momentum of recently announced account wins such as Overture, AltaVista, Oracle/BMW Racing Team and Panasonic Business Systems Australia.
"Combined, these wins provide compelling proof that the recent restructure of Blackie McDonald has had no negative impact on the company, its clients or our ability to source new business."

A closure...
Meanwhile Hill & Knowlton last week closed its Melbourne office.

The international PR giant however managed to soften the bad news by simultaneously announcing a new alliance with business and communication advisory company, Royce.
In a release dated last Wednesday, 29 October, Hill & Knowlton's Asia-Pacific president and CEO, Brian West, admitted the closure was due to the Melbourne office's lack of profitability.

"As a global company we need to be smarter about where we do business, and this is increasingly defined by the ability to sustain profitable practice teams aligned with our global structure," Mr West said.

"While we are saddened that market conditions in Victoria have undermined the viability of our office, leading to its closure, we are excited by the opportunity to forge an alliance with Peter Mahon and Richard Amos and their team at Royce."
The Royce camp seemed very happy about the new arrangement.

The company's CEO, Peter Mahon, said in the same statement that the palling-up of the two firms was a "significant deal" that would help Royce consolidate "its position as the largest communication agency in Melbourne".

"It will also provide us with access to Hill & Knowlton's world-leading knowledge, enable our clients to have access to Hill & Knowlton's international network and give us the potential to receive international briefs.

"We have always admired H&K, who have been a formidable force in Melbourne for over 50 years, right back to the Eric White days, so we are naturally honoured to be representing the company here in Melbourne."

Another win...
In other H&K news, the company last month picked up 321 Studios.

The appointment marks two-year-old 321 Studios' first push into actively promoting its range of DVD backup, repair and recovery software to Asia-Pac consumers. The company was already with Hill & Knowlton in the UK and US markets.

Myrna Van Pelt, Hill & Knowlton's director of technology and new media, will head up the account, in tandem with the agency's associate director Steven Noble.

And a birthday...
Max Australia officially celebrated its first birthday at the start of this month.
"It's been a hard year," admitted Fiona Martin, account director at Max. "The climate we came into at launch was tough - I think it was one of the lowest points in the tech industry."

However, the company had survived, Martin said, building on its initial base to add several new accounts.

Launching with just one client on board – Maxtor – the agency then went on to "very quickly" pick up the Fuji Xerox Printers account and then, a month later, Veritas Software. The company has since gone on to win other clients this year, the most recent of which was MRO Software, provider of strategic asset management solutions.

Max Australia is the sister company of IT&T PR consultancy Spectrum Communications, and co-owned by that company's principals, Naomi Beames and Wendy Docherty.

Fiona Martin, whose 14-odd years in IT marketing includes stints at Burson-Marstellar and Anite Networks, heads up the Max team and business, independently of the Spectrum directors.