IPG Examines Global Media Ops

NEW YORK Nick Brien, worldwide CEO at Interpublic Group's Universal McCann, has been tapped to lead a task force developing practices to ensure the holding company's global media operations (principally, UM and Initiative) run more efficiently. In some cases, senior management functions could be consolidated.An internal memo issued today by CEO Michael Roth and obtained by Adweek confirmed the move, and suggested that similar groups would also be formed to scrutinize other units of the holding company. (Executives in other IPG disciplines will also soon be asked to spearhead efforts similar to Brien's, sources said.)In some "limited number of markets," said Roth, management functions might be consolidated. Thus, a single CFO or CIO might oversee those functions at both shops. Any savings derived from the moves would be reinvested in the media shops, said Roth."This is an internal initiative to improve collaboration and optimize our media assets in order to better fund Initiative and UM so as to enhance their competitiveness at a time of very rapid change in the media landscape," Roth's memo stated.According to Roth, Brien will scrutinize operational processes with an eye toward "accelerating the pace of cross-agency collaboration in everything from sourcing of services and other external costs, to sharing non-client facing resources, to combining back-office functions and processes."One example, a source said, might be the joint negotiation of services from third-party research providers such as ratings companies.Word of the development ignited speculation that IPG was preparing to reorganize its media holdings once again, under a media management unit. IPG tried that approach in 2005 only to discard the new order a year later.However, Roth's memo stated that no such plan was being contemplated.Last year when IPG Media was disbanded, Initiative was "aligned" with ad shop DraftFCB. But the media company retains its own P&L and Alec Gerster, worldwide CEO of Initiative, reports to Roth. UM was re-aligned with McCann Worldgroup, but also retains a separate P&L and Brien also reports to Roth.Nothing changes now with respect to that reorganization, Roth stated in the memo.That said, the new initiative does "require a single internal driver," said Roth. "With the active agreement of both the media networks, as well as Interpublic's support, Nick Brien has been charged with that responsibility. You will therefore be hearing from him as he builds a cross-agency task force to further accelerate our media strategy. Please provide him with the information he requests and participate in any other way that he asks." In the year since the last media reorganization, both UM and Initiative have improved the quality of their offerings and their financial performances, said Roth: "We therefore remain committed to the interdependence model and to the need to have two core media brands. We're also committed to a Magna solution that delivers media research and negotiation intelligence to support all of our agencies."IPG is examining more than media ops, said Roth: "As we look to 2008, we are asking companies across IPG with analogous business models to come up with ways to increase efficiencies."

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IPG Examines Global Media Ops

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