Weber Shandwick to close Minneapolis office, storied part of Twin Cities marketing history

New York-based Weber Shandwick is closing its Minneapolis office amid a parent company merger, marking the end of an era for a downtown public relations powerhouse.

The physical office closure is the latest sign of downsizing for a firm that once employed hundreds in the Twin Cities but has shrunk to just a few dozen today. It’s also happening as Weber Shandwick’s owner, Interpublic, merges with fellow marketing and communications giant Omnicom — a deal on track to generate $750 million in cost savings, Omnicom CEO John Wren said during the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call Tuesday.

“Importantly, these cost savings will not impact employees dedicated to servicing our clients and generating revenues,” he said on the call. “Instead, they will arise from streamlining the holding company, middle office and regional positions, as well as from eliminating duplicative overhead, back office and third-party expenses across our larger combined global footprint.”

About 85% of revenue post-merger will come from the company’s top 10 markets, Wren said. In March, shareholders should vote to approve the deal, first announced in December.

Weber Shandwick will vacate its space in the 510 Marquette building at the end of February, according to a company spokesperson. Operations will continue with about 35 Minneapolis employees shifting to working remotely or sharing office space, said Tom Cunningham, Interpublic’s senior vice president for global communications.

“We saw an opportunity to lean in to the hybrid-work environment that we’re now in,” he said, adding the decision not to renew the lease is “not at all” related to the merger.

The closure will affect one floor at 510 Marquette, said Tom Tracy, executive director for Cushman & Wakefield, which handles leasing for the building. The lease is for four floors, but another tenant has subleased three floors for a number of years.

Weber Shandwick’s central region also includes offices in Chicago, Dallas, Detroit and St. Louis.

The Minneapolis branch traces its roots to 1981, when Dave Mona launched public relations firm David L. Mona & Associates, with Toro — his former employer — as a lead client. Shandwick International acquired the company in 1988 after a merger two years prior with another local firm formed Mona Meyer McGrath and Gavin.

“We were totally independent up until then, and then we had to become part of a larger organization, but it worked very well,” Mona, a former Minneapolis Tribune reporter, said Thursday. “It gave us the opportunity to walk into a room and truly say that we did have global outreach.”

Mona Meyer McGrath and Gavin was ready to make the leap, with a roster of big-name clients from Coca-Cola to the U.S. Army, said Chris Gade, who was on staff at the time of the acquisition and is now vice president for communications at the University of Minnesota.

“Mona Meyer McGrath and Gavin, especially around the founders and the work that that team did at that stage, was very notable already in the Twin Cities, in Minnesota, around the nation,” he said.

Shandwick’s 2001 merger with Weber Group formed Weber Shandwick, which consolidated its Twin Cities presence in Bloomington in 1991. Its then-200 employees returned to downtown Minneapolis in 2014, setting up shop at 510 Marquette.

According to its website, Weber Shandwick today has offices in 59 cities worldwide.

This move is just the latest example of how downtown areas have had to rebound after the COVID-19 pandemic emphasized remote work. The overall office vacancy rate for the central business district was 33.5% at the end of 2024, according to Cushman & Wakefield.

510 Marquette, constructed in 1921 as a branch of the Federal Reserve Bank and renovated in 2016, is about 87% leased, Tracy said.

“Generally, we’ve seen positive movement with employers being downtown the last number of months,” said Downtown Council President and CEO Adam Duininck. “I don’t want to understate the symbolic nature of [the Weber Shandwick closure], but I also don’t want to overstate its impact in terms of the state of downtown. I think the state of downtown continues to trend in the right direction.”

Though the Minneapolis office will shutter, its alumni continue to define the Twin Cities public relations community, Mona said.

“From a personal standpoint, it’s very sad to have no presence in the market, to have disappeared after creating a leadership position,” he said. “Our legacy will be all the good people that we had along the way.”

Katie Galioto of the Minnesota Star Tribune contributed to this story.