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Midas Initiates Review of Its Creative Advertising

19 October 1998

Midas Initiates Review of Its Creative Advertising

    CHICAGO--Oct. 16, 1998--Midas Inc. has initiated a review of the strategic and creative portions of its advertising account for its automotive service business in the United States.
    Midas has invited a limited number of agencies to participate in the review, which is expected to be completed by mid-December. Foote, Cone & Belding, Chicago, which had been Midas' creative agency since August 1997, had agreed to participate in the review but resigned the account today.
    "This has been a year of change for Midas, as we became a public company in January and we continued throughout the year to add strength to our management team," said Wendel H. Province, who joined Midas as chairman and chief executive officer in January.
    "In August, Bruce Hutchison came to Midas as vice president of marketing, from Thomson Mutlimedia, where he was credited with revitalizing the RCA brand. He previously was involved with the development of General Motors' Mr. Goodwrench program," Province said. "We look forward to his significant contribution to our marketing effort.
    "We have made tremendous progress working together with our franchisees to enhance our marketing programs and promotions, our retail advertising messages and product lines to enable our franchisees to increase the retail sales in their nearly 1,900 U.S. stores in 1999 and beyond," Province said. "We look forward to working with a new agency partner on these enhancements to the Midas program."
    Midas is one of the world's largest providers of automotive service, including exhaust, brakes, steering and suspension, as well as batteries and maintenance services. There are more than 2,700 Midas locations in 19 countries, including nearly 2,150 in North America.