Media All-Star: Shane Ankeney

Creative agency veteran drives Initiative's performance-based model

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In many ways, Initiative couldn't have a better salesman for performance-based compensation than Shane Ankeney.

Before joining Initiative in May 2009, Ankeney had spent his entire 19-year career at creative agencies that marketers long ago had stopped paying on a commission basis. Commission pay remains the norm at media shops–including Initiative–but with Ankeney as U.S. managing director in charge of planning, research, and new business, the tide is now beginning to turn.

Two accounts won on Ankeney's watch in the past year–USAA and Hasbro–bought into Initiative's shift toward getting paid less up front, with the opportunity to make more if it meets certain agreed-upon metrics.

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