When two companies merge there are inevitably losers. Not long after Ray Gordon's MRPA won the merged PR account for Irish Life & Permanent, with Bill O'Herlihy Communications losing out, the Margin hears that the PR account for the merged Bank of Scotland/ICC Bank has gone to Brendan Bracken PR, with Murray Consultants the loser on this occasion.

It's usually the case that the PR man for the acquirer displaces the PR for the company being acquired. And so it was with ICC, where Brendan Bracken - who has handled Bank of Scotland's PR since it came to Ireland - won the account for the merged business.