Japan-based, agency holding company giant Dentsu has agreed to buy UK holding company competitor giant, Aegis, in a transaction valued at $4.9 billion (£3.2bn). The Guardian writes: “The importance of the deal to Dentsu can be seen in the sale multiple, which at 12 times earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation is more akin […]
As AKQA’s media team stares into the maw of WPP and its Xaxis audience buying unit, what does it see there? Scott Symonds, Managing Director of AKQA Media, is certainly aware of Xaxis’s reputation as the most controlling of the holding company trading desks – an entity that has been known to force its solution […]
Social Customer Relationship Management – or Social CRM – has been increasingly on the minds of many marketers, their agents and ad tech companies as the use of social media proliferates and acquisitions of Vitrue by Oracle and Buddy Media by Salesforce signal a changing media landscape. Consumers are spending a large part of their […]
Nick Pahade is a veteran of digital agencies and ad startups, having founded or led Beyond Interactive, Denuo (Publicis), GSI Commerce, and Traffiq. Two months ago, he was named North America CEO for global media planner Initiative, which is owned by Interpublic Group. This week at the Cannes Lions ad festival, he spoke with AdExchanger […]
The acquisition of AKQA, the largest remaining independent interactive agency, by WPP sent waves through the ad sector today. Read: the French Riviera was buzzin’. Numerous senior agency people attending the Cannes Lions global ad festival have either worked for AKQA or competed with it dating back to its founding in 2001. The deal was […]
WPP Group has added digital agency AKQA to its holding company corral as the digital, pure play agency remains a highly-sought-after prize. Read the release. It was rumored that AKQA would be acquired by Dentsu for $600 million in 2010. Though today’s acquisition did not include terms of the deal, and considering time has passed […]
Last week, media communications agency Starcom USA announced that former Hill-Holliday executive Phil Geyskens has been hired as EVP/analytics & development director. He will join Starcom’s Managing Board and report to CEO Lisa Donohue. According to the press release, Geyskens’ new role is “to find and tell data stories, which includes inventing new interfaces, visualizations, […]
In 2006, Planning Group International partners Patrick MacDougall and Gaston Legorburu sold their agency to Sapient for $36 million. Today PGI’s core technology offering, the 12-year-old online marketing platform BridgeTrack, is still at the heart of the parent company’s ad optimization regime. Both MacDougall and Legorburu are still with the company – Legorburu as global […]
Looking inside today’s digital advertising ecosystem, you could say that the banner ad has helped spawn a new offshoot in today’s display business. Known colloquially as “native advertising,” advertisers, publishers and technology companies are looking for better ways to engage with the consumer beyond a 728×90 ad unit, for example. Companies like Facebook, Twitter and […]
Among the first wave of digital agencies launched in the early to mid ’90s, Razorfish may be the strongest survivor. Through several acquisitions that ultimately placed it in the stewardship of Microsoft, then Publicis Groupe, the agency retained a distinct identity while continuing to innovate and expand globally. Last week it grew its China headcount […]
Bret Leece knows analytics. He got his start in 1995 creating econometric time series models to track and predict Sprint’s call center activity, before moving on to CRM and database marketing roles including at MarketShare. Currently Initiative’s EVP of performance analytics, he has a long view of where advertising performance has been and where it’s […]
It’s early days for audience-based media buying in China, but e-commerce spending is already huge and has the potential to outstrip the U.S. by 2015, per Forrester (paid report). To prepare for this future Publicis Groupe has acquired 12-year-old digital marketer Longtuo (release). The Beijing-based firm serves the e-retail needs of marketers like 360buy, Kohler, […]
Our series continues as AdExchanger reached out to several executives from the agency side of the ecosystem and asked the following question: “Given the increasing complexity of ad technology needed to service clients – particularly in digital media buying -, and ad tech companies need to build a service layer to activate its tech, where […]
Our series continues as AdExchanger reached out to several executives from the agency side of the ecosystem and asked the following question: “Given the increasing complexity of ad technology needed to service clients – particularly in digital media buying -, and ad tech companies need to build a service layer to activate its tech, where […]
Building digital consumer products for clients – in contrast to marketing campaigns – is a growing discipline for agencies, but they have to get the data right. That means embracing analytics and A/B testing from the outset; tapping customer databases; and using targeted ads to spread awareness among both existing customers and prospects. “Clients are […]
In spite of the automation that technology continues to bring to media, the services layer remains as valuable as ever – maybe more so – as talented people put the technology over the proverbial finish line. For some ad tech companies with complex offerings, a robust service layer has been the natural outcome of selling […]
Last week, JWT announced it would rebrand its Minneapolis office to become part of Digitaria’s growing network. The Minneapolis outpost is a dedicated digital operation with clients including UnitedHealth Group. San Diego-based Digitaria was founded as a digital design firm in 1997 but has extended to website development, search, analytics, and even digital product invention […]
Miami-based Media 8 is one of a growing number of indie digital shops to dabble in programmatic ad buying. Since mid-2011 the Hispanic and travel-focused agency has brought exchange-traded display media to clients including General Mills and Dish Latino. It has done so courtesy of a relationship with trading desk partner Accordant Media, which provides a […]
Vivaki’s Nerve Center may have been the brainchild of Curt Hecht, but Kurt Unkel has done as much as anyone to help make it a reality. Unkel, who has worked for Hecht for more than a decade, will now run Publicis’s automated media buying unit as president in the wake of his boss’s departure for […]
The U.S. has had 26 straight months of job creation, the stock market has held on to the 13,000 point for a few weeks and expectations for the coming TV upfront season are practically exuberant. That said, unemployment is high, the economic recovery is anemic, the housing market is still in the doldrums and the […]
Mark Miller is SVP and CRM Practice Lead at Publicis agency Digitas. Miller is also the author of two recent articles: “The Three Tenets Of New CRM” and “Three Steps To Dealing With Data Paralysis.” He recently discussed the world of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and its implications for audience buying with AdExchanger. AdExchanger: Does […]
The talk of the agency business the last few years has been “tear down the silos.” That has usually meant putting digital media buying at the center of a hub that can be tapped for more traditional disciplines like TV, print and out-of-home. In a sense, GroupM, WPP’s media unit, has served that function. But […]
Baiju Shah is Partner & Managing Director, Digital Media at Accenture Interactive. Shah recently discussed his company, and the data-driven ecosystem and how it’s impacting the marketer with AdExchanger. AdExchanger: There’s a lot of talk in this space about building a “marketing stack” or “end-to-end solution.” Is Accenture the agency that’s going to take care […]
As part of the breakout sessions on the first day of sessions at the 4A‘s “Transformation LA” conference, agency trading desks and their competitors gathered on stage for a frank discussion on the use of trading desks and demand-side platforms (DSPs) at the agency. Joe Apprendi, CEO, Collective JT Batson, President, Mediaocean Quentin George, Chief […]
The use of data has created a bunch of scammers. The auction is killing us. And then – the Internet has destroyed more value than it has created. These were the suppositions from Microsoft Research’s Jaron Lanier that challenged advertising agency executives attending the opening panel of the 4A‘s annual conference titled “Transformation LA.” The […]
Autumn Christiano works as Director of Analytics for The Portal Group (TPG), a boutique consultancy. Among other companies, TPG services Toyota and Toyota Motor Sales within three main categories as it relates to website strategy: technical, project management and analytics. Christiano spoke about her company and data-driven marketing with AdExchanger at the recent Adobe Digital […]
Ronald Paul is CEO of QUISMA, a European performance marketing agency and a subsidiary of WPP Group’s GroupM. AdExchanger: How do you define a performance marketing agency today? RP: Whereas performance marketing was once a single online marketing channel, with brands only paying for leads or sales generated via advertising on third party publishers’ sites, […]
Darryl Gehly is president of Isobar, a digital creative agency. He spoke to AdExchanger.com recently about his agency and industry trends. AdExchanger.com: First, a bit of background on Isobar and how you position your agency? DG: Isobar is part of the Aegis Holding Company. We’re integrated, as in not doing media buying. Therefore, as part […]
Rob Norman is CEO of of North American operations for GroupM, the parent organization for WPP Group media agencies Maxus, MediaCom, Mediaedge:cia and Mindshare. Norman sat down with AdExchanger.com during last weekend’s Association of National Advertisers annual meeting in Scottsdale, Arizona. AdExchanger.com: What is happening with the brand marketer and their digital strategy today in […]
Mark Pavia was recently hired as Executive VP, Digital Managing Director at Starcom USA, a Publicis agency. Read a bit more in Ad Age. Pavia discussed his new position and the evolving role of digital specialists within the agency. AdExchanger.com: What attracted you to the EVP role at Starcom? MP: It was a number of […]
