Chapter 130\ In search of a casket for Intermarkets

In his ArabAd interview^[1], Talal Makdissi said that THG had made an offer to acquire Raymond Hanna’s shares in Intermarkets. In the same interview, Hanna confirmed this and added that he was aware of the legal obligation to offer his shares to Intermarkets’ shareholders first. ArabAd asked for Erwin Guerrovich’s comments, and he described Makdissi’s claim as a PR stunt inspired by Maurice Saatchi, who had claimed to be acquiring JWT with the objective of making Saatchi & Saatchi better known.

A few months earlier, Erwin returned from one of his usual visits to France and called me to his room. I went in with my notepad, on which I had jotted a summary of the activities I had led in his absence. As I sat down, Erwin looked me in the eye and said: “Ramzi, I have been diagnosed with cancer and I am leaving again for treatment. I want you to continue looking over Intermarkets, and in case I do not return, I ask you to take care of Vivian, Yan, and Stephanie (his wife, son, and daughter) like you look after your own family.” Throughout this long statement, Erwin never blinked, despite the tears that began to pour from my own eyes.

Erwin had gone for a long period of treatment in Europe and in his absence, I had steered the ship through the storm that had prevailed since ArabAd had interviewed Makdissi. When Walid Azzi, the publisher of ArabAd, asked Makdissi about his reason for wanting to take over Intermarkets, he answered that his own agency, Team Advertising, was the only remaining independent agency in Lebanon. His plan, therefore, was to have a parallel agency to handle competitive accounts.

Raymond Hanna had commented on Talal Makdissi’s interview, and part of what he had said was that Erwin had hinted that he intended to retire the following year, which made Hanna think twice about the prospect of selling his shares. In this environment, the sudden visit of Tiemen Bosman^[2] to Dubai and his choice of Team Advertising as the Middle East partner of Y&R put a hold on the whole Team/Intermarkets war of words.

Erwin came back with renewed energy and appeared to be eager to make up for Makdissi’s criticism^[3] that he had lost contact with Intermarkets’ areas of operation, since he had been spending most of his time in Paris and Beirut.

The sad reality was that the mighty Intermarkets was hemorrhaging in a painful way. Nahi Ghorayeb had fallen out with Erwin after attempting a coup with the Fattals, who had always considered Erwin to be a part of their family. Samir Fares left to set up Lintas Middle East; Raymond Hanna announced his wish to sell his shares; Ramsay Najjar, Eli Khoury and Joe Ayash jointly defected to establish Saatchi & Saatchi; Joseph Ghossoub went to Team; and Sonia Chaanine jumped ship in Beirut itself.

Erwin had me, Khalil Bitar and Nadim Sfeir next to him. Not to forget his father and brother-in-law, Gabriel, and Alain Brenas.

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^[1] ArabAd magazine – August 1995 – Pages 6, 8 & 9

^[2]The story of Middle East Advertising – Chapter 88

^[3] ArabAd magazine – September 1995 – Page 120