NRA is suing them, claiming the ad agency is refusing to turn over detail on how they have been spending money in relation to their long-standing contract.

AM billed them $42M (!!) in 2017 alone.

Regardless of how this is resolved, this could signal an end to a relationship that has lasted almost 4 decades. It would also mean they would have to drastically reduce their 125 employees based in OKC (another 65 or so are split between Colorado Springs and Washington D.C.

NRA has been running a deficit and is getting tighter about money. It may also be a way for them to get out of this contract with AM and spend less elsewhere.



NRA Sues Ackerman McQueen, Mercury Group
Mon., Apr. 15, 2019
By Kevin McCauley
Charlton Heston
Charlton Heston
The National Rifle Association has sued long-time ad agency Ackerman McQueen and its Mercury Group PR unit for allegedly failing to turn over its business records to justify its billings.

The organization paid Ackerman McQueen more than $42M in 2017.

According to the suit filed in Virginia Circuit Court, the NRA “requested access to material, readily available records that Ackerman and Mercury are contractually obligated to provide,” but the defendants refused to provide them.

The gun group claims it negotiated with AM for access to the records for the better part of a year and its patience has now run out.

It wants business records including “budgets purportedly approved by the NRA, copies of material contracts for which the NRA is purportedly liable, and readily available performance data—all to inform the judgement of its fiduciaries.”

The NRA claims its contract with AM entitles it upon “reasonable notice” to examine any and all “files, books and records” of both Ackerman and Mercury which pertain to matters covered by the parties’ contract.

AM dismissed the suit as “frivolous, inaccurate and intended to cause harm to the reputation of our company.”

The Oklahoma City-based shop said in a statement: “We will defend our position and performance aggressively and look forward to continuing to serve the NRA’s membership.”

The NRA and AM has worked together for decades and created the high-impact “from my cold, dead hands” messaging of the late actor and five-time NRA president Charlton Heston.