Best Buy Expands Media Role

Best Buy, the Minneapolis-based retailer of electronics and appliances, is now selling something new: media planning and buying services for advertising agencies.
Two years ago, the discounter said it would begin offering media buying services directly to other marketers, and its 40-person media buying department now handles about 30 outside media buying projects a year, with clients ranging from noncompeting retailers to restaurants, said Best Buy media director John McGuigan. It now places approximately $25-30 million in media buys annually for other companies.