• by Tom Siebert , November 14, 2006

Eisner Communications, Baltimore's oldest ad agency, abruptly closed last Friday, leaving more than 50 employees without jobs and at least two unpaid media vendors filing suits for unpaid debts.

The National Geographic Society and collateral-marketing-material company Bright Ideas Advertising Specialties have both filed cases against Eisner, as well as the headhunting firm Engine Performance.

The oft-awarded Eisner once boasted of billings in excess of $300 million and was a mainstay of the Adweek Report Card, listed as one of the eighth-largest ad agencies in the Southeast. Eisner boasted clients such as U.S. Airways, The Nature Conservancy, Go RVing and the Maryland Lottery. But there were always whispers that the shop dramatically exaggerated its financial well-being, which Eisner dismissed as professional jealousy.

James Astrachan, the agency's attorney, says there are other outstanding media vendors that are owed money by Eisner. "I have not seen the complete list, but I can't imagine that that would not be the case. There is a lot of debt." He declined to provide a precise figure.

Astrachan says the agency, which opened in 1939, shut down because it ran out of money and could no longer pay its employees or other expenses. He says Eisner will not file for bankruptcy; instead, it will sell off its assets. A lien has been put on the agency's assets. Employees terminated Friday did not receive payment for their last pay period, Astrachan says, and did not receive severance or leftover vacation pay.

The agency began a rapid spiral downhill since losing the US Airways account in 2005, following the client's merger with America West Airlines. Other clients followed suit, and the company restructured late last year, when president/CEO Steve Eisner, whose father originally put the Eisner name on the door, stepped down and former Saatchi & Saatchi executive Jeremy Clarke took over.

Shortly thereafter, a brain drain hit the agency, and the company's PR, interactive and boutique subsidiaries were closed. Eisner's executive vice president, media director Brian Decker, joined Baltimore's Carton Donofrio Partners as media director in October.

Clients still on the agency's roster when it closed include The Maryland Lottery, The National Aquarium and Provident Bank. Calls to the latter two clients were not returned by press time. The Maryland Lottery will "go through an accelerated review process" to replace Eisner, Astrachan says.

Eisner is the second reasonably high-profile regional agency to close in 2006, following Greenville, S.C. shop Henderson Advertising. Other shops to shutter in the past two years include Mad Dogs & Englishmen, Ziccardi Partners Frierson Mee, Black Rocket and Bayless Cronin.

"It was like [Eisner] took me down and mugged me," laments Harvey Estrim, proprietor of Bright Ideas Advertising Specialties, who says Eisner owes him more than $40,000. "They just lied to us up front and stayed there. I could go out of business because of this. To put it in my words: Thief!"