Agencies

Just a few years ago, brands needed to be educated around the messaging and measurement technologies available in the digital age. That imperative has since shifted as marketing departments try to figure out how they take that technology and maximize results. As a side effect, the line between data and marketing services providers like Experian […]

Agencies and holding companies are pointing to customized algorithms as a way to differentiate from the competition. Tech providers, too, claim that algorithms developed in-house offer better optimization capabilities than those that are more generally available. But as these algorithms become more popular, the parameters of what entails customization are loosening. In most cases, agencies […]

There’s a new guy in charge at Essence, the 9-year-old agency best known as a key partner to Google on its programmatic and other marketing activities. London-based Essence has promoted Christian Juhl, previously in charge of its North American operations, to run the company as global CEO. With his promotion, founder and previous CEO Matt […]

The line between enterprise software and digital agencies is blurring. As the merger between Publicis and Omnicom came to a screeching halt last week, the growing demand for data and tech prowess within the agency environment was all too apparent. In the case of computing giant IBM, developing an in-house agency has been a (lesser-known) […]

With the collapse of the proposed merger of agency holding companies Omnicom and Publicis, former agency exec and Vertere Group’s Tim Hanlon provided his take: “Much of of the logic I laid out last year when the deal was announced still holds. If anything, it only exacerbates the questions that brand marketers have about how to best […]

What a fiasco. A “merger of equals” between Publicis Groupe and Omnicom Group that was to be the largest acquisition in advertising history is now off as the two companies have proven unable to overcome a range of impediments, including tax concerns, integration pain, and the personalities of the chief executives. “The challenges that still […]

Digital agency Essence has hired Oscar Garza, formerly of Electronic Arts (EA), to lead a new effort to bring programmatic buying solutions to clients in North America. Garza started this week as director of programmatic and audience, tasked with building a new team based out of Essence’s San Francisco office. As director of acquisition for […]

There was no agency more present on the NewFront circuit this week than DigitasLBi. The Publicis-owned agency, formed when the holding company merged Digitas and LBi last February, was out in full force as a partner on AOL’s original content, Google Preferred and, at its own NewFront Thursday, as a partner to publishers and tech […]

With the Omnicom-Publicis merger now in some doubt, WPP Group retains a glimmer of hope that it could remain the world’s largest agency holding company past the third quarter. In its Q1 earnings report Friday, WPP listed media investment – represented by its GroupM network and the Xaxis ad tech unit – as among its […]

Media Storm, the media planning and buying arm of agency network Water Cooler Group, is breaking down siloes to mirror consumer – and client – media requirements. Media Storm’s sister companies Hip Genius (social media) and Maude (creative/strategy) share the same real estate and come in on cross-team campaign meetings, according to Charlie Fiordalis, who […]

While native advertising is this year’s digital buzzword, it’s not clear how one can measure its effectiveness. AdExchanger ran this question past a number of agencies: “How do you measure native advertising?”  Click below or scroll down to read their responses Cary Tilds, chief innovation officer, GroupM Lisa Penelton, VP of marketing science, Critical Mass Andrea […]

Aegis Media China started off 2014 with a major management change, hiring Sara Ye as CEO of its iProspect and Amnet China brands. Based in Beijing, Ye started the role in January and will work to build up the team and solidify the companies’ product offerings in China. Aegis started Amnet China in 2013 and […]

Merkle keeps piling on agency services. The CRM and database marketing company has acquired Chicago-based New Control, a “digital and direct” agency with a focus on financial industry clients including Chase, Fifth Third Bank, PNC Bank and Visa. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. Merkle EVP and digital agency lead Craig Dempster told AdExchanger the […]

Mobile app install ads have proven to be lucrative for Facebook, and sources say Twitter is close to releasing its own version of such ads along with a new mobile app install partner program. “Given the prevalence of Twitter app usage in mobile, which has an even higher percentage of mobile vs. desktop than Facebook, […]

The brand-agency relationship used to be relatively simple. True, brands would have multiple agencies – social, digital, media-buying, for instance – but most of the spend would focus on a single area, usually television. But as other digital channels become more important to consumers, brands are beginning to realize that stuffing too much money in […]

You walk into a Honda dealership, and a Toyota ad pops up on your cell phone. The future of programmatic is destined to get more mobile and more local as ad exchanges and agencies team up on innovations that will target consumers more specifically, even when they’re on the move. Christina Lee, a senior digital […]

Marc Landsberg knows agencies. Landsberg previously served as the former EVP at Leo Burnett and president and CEO of Arc and MRM Worldwide. As the current CEO of Chicago-based social agency socialdeviant, he says the traditional media-buying process has been turned upside down and the players flipping the tables aren’t the platform providers. Comcast’s planned […]

Digital think tank and research consultancy L2 is looking to corner the market on prestige brand and CPG strategy. A new investment round of $16.5 million from General Catalyst Partners (a HubSpot investor) received Wednesday also underscores the intersection of the management consultancy and digital agency. “The two primary buckets for this investment will be […]

Interpublic Group’s (IPG) out-of-home advertising agency Rapport Worldwide will automate media planning and buying activities using outdoor advertising technology platform ADstruc, the holding company said Monday. As part of a strategic agreement between the two companies, IPG will deploy the technology across Rapport’s five offices globally, which will significantly improve agency efficiencies. Additionally, IPG has […]

When The New York Times discontinued in February its director of programmatic advertising position, held by Matt Prohaska, partners and advertisers wondered how this would affect the publisher’s programmatic initiatives. Certainly the Times sought to alter its structure, saying in a statement it was “re-imagining and growing [its] programmatic organization and strategy with a focus […]

Agency holding company MDC Partners has rebranded its Maxxcom Global Media unit as MDC Media Partners. It has also rolled two prior agency acquisitions, TargetCast and RJ Palmer, into a new, 250-person-strong media agency called Assembly, which will function as a unit within MDC Media Partners. Assembly combines resources from independent media communications agency TargetCast […]

Consulting activity around marketing technology continues to gain steam, with interest coming both from small boutique firms such as Unbound Company and Freestyle Consulting (both established by former Mediabrands executives) and large established advisory companies such as Deloitte and Accenture. The latest company to join the fray is Concept Corridor, a one-man consulting play founded […]

Is the union between Oracle and BlueKai, in the words of Ovum Research Senior Analyst Gerry Brown, a case of “the cat amongst the pigeons?” There might be some credence to the idea. As Brown points out, BlueKai is (or has been) a champion of open systems. Oracle is not. “Certainly few BlueKai partners will […]

Marketers need to fundamentally rethink the traditional purchase funnel if they want to effectively target media and messaging in the future, says Kate Sirkin, EVP and global research director of Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG). Leading a discussion at Publicis Groupe’s New York headquarters Thursday alongside social analytics agency Mashwork, Sirkin discussed how social data is unlocking […]

Enterprise social media management company Sprinklr has acquired social data analytics and services firm Dachis Group for an undisclosed sum, the latest venture from Razorfish’s cofounder and former CEO Jeff Dachis. As a combined entity, Sprinklr, founded in 2009, and Dachis Group will employ 300 with offices in New York, London, and Austin, and serve […]

Investing in new and existing creative and digital talent in 2014 will be a key development pillar for Interpublic Group (IPG), the holding company said in its Q4 call. IPG revealed full-year 2013 revenue of $7.12 billion, an organic increase of 2.8% from $6.96 billion in 2012. Fourth quarter revenue was $2.12 billion, compared to […]

Companies can spend millions on ads, SEO, search, content marketing, social and so on, but never maximize those dollars because they lack a good way of stringing together data about the interactions that result from that investment. With no singular picture into each customer’s cross-channel journey, brands don’t have the power to make real-time business […]

Stephan Beringer is in for a ride. Earlier this week Beringer was named president of Publicis Groupe’s VivaKi Audience On Demand (AOD) trading desk. He succeeds Kurt Unkel, a respected agency leader and progenitor of the trading desk idea, who will exit at the end of February for a hometown job as chief digital officer […]

Yesterday, mobile ad network Millennial Media announced the hire of industry – and programmatic-media – veteran Michael Barrett as its new CEO. As Barrett told AdExchanger’s Judith Aquino yesterday, “Buying programmatically is certainly a big interest with a lot of our advertisers, publishers and developing partners, and we’ll continue going down that path. [But] Millennial is also […]

“Data-Driven Thinking” is written by members of the media community and contains fresh ideas on the digital revolution in media. Today’s column is written by Paul Steketee, head of paid social and emerging media capabilities at Merkle. The growth rate of mobile is kind of like China’s economy: impossible to really track. The rapid takeover of […]