Office furniture supplier Bafco has confirmed it is considering shifting its creative duties from Tonic, after three years with the agency. Tonic currently handles all the PR, media and creative duties for Bafco. But Gilbert Grino, senior marketing executive at Bafco, says “We are centralized on Tonic but maybe when we shift our account, we are looking for a more decentralized one, meaning we are going to phase it out, so we will have one PR agency , one advertising agency.
 
“We had a good relationship with Tonic, but at the moment we are also considering other options," he continues. "It is the concept of creative brain drain: We have been with Tonic for three years, and I think it would be a good opportunity for Bafco to consider other B2B agencies. We are a B2B company. The ads could win them awards, but if you look at the client’s perspective, will it bring business to Bafco?”
 
A split is not a certainty, though, says Grino. “We had a good relationship with Tonic; we are even considering renewing for 2008.”
 
Tonic’s creative director, Vincent Raffray, was unaware of the review. “I can’t comment on it because I haven’t heard anything,” he tells Communicate.
 
Tonic bagged a Silver award at the Dubai Lynx 2008 for their campaign which shows Bafco furniture placed to look like a game of Tetris.