Loewy finds US match in Deskey

Raymond Loewy International has formed a strategic alliance with New York packaging group Deskey Associates to compete more effectively with rivals owned by advertising networks.

“It will help us to have someone on the ground [in the US],” says Loewy managing director Patrick Farrell of the alliance. Sixty per cent of Loewy’s business is already overseas.

Farrell sees the alliance as a way of facilitating global branding and combating the “amalgamation of design groups into ad agencies, which can now say ‘we have an office in such-and-such a place'”.

He believes this buying up of design consultancies by ad groups has changed the nature of design. “It creates a competitive edge against independents,” he adds. He hopes the tie with Deskey will help to change perceptions.

Farrell hopes the alliance, which sees no actual ownership exchange, will lead to joint ventures, and help Loewy continue its growth in the US. Deskey should benefit with a European perspective for international assignments. The two will market themselves as Deskey-Loewy in the US and Loewy-Deskey in other countries.

Both groups were founded in 1929 by renowned industrial designers Raymond Loewy and Donald Deskey in the US, respectively. Deskey’s clients include Black & Decker, Nestlé, Procter & Gamble and Quaker State.

Deskey has appointed John Lonczak as executive vice-president and managing director.

Lonczak formerly ran his own consultancy and was one of the founding partners of Smart Design in New York.

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