Sarah Baehr Joins MediaVest

Publicis Groupe's MediaVest has hired Sarah Baehr as svp, director of digital publishing solutions, a new position. The move is part of a broader effort by the print division to better align with the publishing industry as it embraces an increasing array of digital platforms.

Baehr (pictured) spent six years with digital agency Razorfish, where she rose to head media planning and buying operations until leaving for consultancy Rosetta earlier this year. Before Razorfish, Baehr spent seven years at WPP's OgilvyOne.

Commenting on the hire, Bill Tucker, MediaVest's U.S. CEO, said, "The future calls for approaching publishing as content rather than print and leveraging the full spectrum of publisher brand opportunities across the digitized media landscape."

With her experience in the digital sector, Baehr will "guide the development of new, richer publishing experiences for our clients and drive change in the space," Tucker said.

Baehr reports to Robin Steinberg, svp, director of publisher investment and activation. Steinberg described Baehr's role as "bringing in the digital expertise and applying it to the traditional business and cascading her talent to the rest of the group."

Steinberg added: "Consumers are interested in content on an 'anywhere anyhow' basis," which Baehr will now help provide.

A key publisher applauded the move. "It strikes me as very smart and a comment about [how] the future is really [here] today," said David Carey, president, Hearst Magazines. "As a publishing company, our content displays in a lot of different ways" across paid, owned and earned media, he said. The move by MediaVest signals the agency's realization of that dynamic, he added.