Lerma splits from The Richards Group

Hi and welcome to Insider Advertising for June 8. I’m senior advertising reporter Lauren Johnson, and here’s what’s going on:

• Lerma splits from The Richards Group.
• The Atlantic’s union.
• Tracer raises $9.9 million.

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Tips, comments, suggestions? Drop me a line at LJohnson@insider.com or on Twitter at @LaurenJohnson.

• Lerma has split off from The Richards Group, the biggest independent ad agency, Lindsay Rittenhouse reported.
• Lerma accelerated the split after a controversy last year where The Richards Group founder made racist comments.
• Its split has helped it win bigger accounts, including some from The Richards Group.

Read the story.

• Editorial staffers at The Atlantic said Monday they plan to form a union, Steven Perlberg reports.
• About 85 staffers are eligible to join the unit, organizers said.
• A wave of US newsrooms have mounted union drives in recent years.

Read the story.

• Tracer, a data software startup that was incubated by ad agency VaynerMedia, raised $9.9 million in funding, Patrick Coffee reported.
• Partner Gary Vaynerchuk brought on investors like Marc Lore, who led the seed round, and Kevin Durant.
• The firm helps clients like Condé Nast and Sanofi collect and organize their consumer data.

Read the story.

Other stories we’re reading:

Thanks for reading and see you tomorrow! You can reach me in the meantime at LJohnson@insider.com and subscribe to this daily email here.