Newly Created GroupM Position Aims for Greater Quality in Digital Advertising

WPP media investment group GroupM appointed John Montgomery to the newly-created position of global executive vice president of brand safety.

In the role Montgomery will work with GroupM’s community of digital advertising and media trading experts at GroupM agencies including MindShare, MEC, MediaCom and Maxus to create a coherent set of global standards operationalizing safety standards for GroupM clients in all advertising markets and ensuring compliance with anti-fraud regulations. He will report to global chief digital officer Rob Norman.

“Clients want to know their brands are safe and that the digital components of their media plans are effective in every region in which they operate,” Norman said in a statement. “And importantly, they deserve to get what they’re paying for — the engagement of their targeted audiences with their brand messages, accountably and safely. John is one of the world’s foremost authorities on digital brand safety. He holds the respect of clients, media partners, and regulators for his innovative thinking and practical approaches to making digital advertising respectful of consumers, more effective for advertisers and consequently a viable business for publishers.”

Montgomery joined GroupM as North American chairman of GroupM Connect in January of 2015. Before that he served as he served as COO of GroupM Interaction for North America , leading the digital data strategy, innovation and policy for the group. He served as CEO of Ogilvy Group Netherlands back in 2001, before relocating to New York to lead the Interactive media practice for MindShare and Ogilvy. He was then appointed as Global CEO of MindShare Interaction in 2006.

“John Montgomery understands that brands, agencies, publishers, and technology companies share equal responsibility for maintaining the integrity of the digital advertising supply chain, so that we can inspire the trust of consumers and guarantee them the best possible experiences with interactive media and the advertisers that support it,” said IAB president and CEO Randall Rothenberg.

Montgomery himself said, “GroupM’s advocacy for higher quality standards in digital in the U.S. continues to be challenging, but rewarding, and I believe the entire industry has benefited. Going global with these efforts promises to be an even bigger lift given the differences among players and platforms, as well as vendor and marketplace readiness in different countries.”

Maxus Won NBC Universal’s $175 Million Digital Review

Thanks to this report from MediaPost, we now know that Maxus (part of the WPP’s GroupM) has been awarded NBC Universal’s domestic digital media duties after a review. The annual ad spend is reported to be near $175 million.

It was only a couple of months ago when Maxus made headlines by poaching its new North American CEO Steve Williams from his former home at PHD. Ironically, the celebratory quote in the story as become more prophetic today:

“We are confident that Steve will help us take Maxus to a new level,” said [GroupM North America CEO Kelly] Clark. “I know from competing against Steve that he can be a very potent force, so I’m delighted he’s now on our team.”

The account will be handled out of Los Angeles and New York. Maxus and GroupM officials could not be immediately reached for comment. Welcome to that new level.

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STUDY: Social Media Advertising Doesn’t Work So Well

Yesterday, we brought you the story of a well-off British gent discussing how WPP’s GroupM will double its Twitter advertising budget to $100 million for 2014.

Today in what may seem like an attempt to show him up, Gallup released its latest study into the wild. It tells the world something the rest of us have known for years: Social media advertising is as good as flushing $100 bills down the toilet.

Here’s why those Benjamins are swirling down the drain.

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Ad Spending Surpasses Pre-Recession Numbers of $109B

When the recession hit America with a huge thud, big business began to reconsider its residual income and closed up the budgets. Of course this hurt advertising agencies in a big way and many experts thought they would never recover, but this article from AdAge seems to contradict the naysayers once and for all.

Total spending among the 100 Leading National Advertisers (LNA) reached a record $108.6 billion in 2013, passing the previous spending peak set in pre-recession 2007.

Quick, call your clients…

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WPP Will Double Its Spending Budget on Twitter in 2014

In another headline from Cannes-Lions, WPP Grand Poobah Sir Martin Sorrell told the world that he will double ad spending on “The Twitter” (as he may have called it) from $50 million to $100 million.

The news was announced when Sorrell moderated a discussion between Twitter’s Dick Costolo and Viacom’s Philippe Dauman. Of course he took a jab at rivals Omnicom and Publicis for their recent ill-fated “merger of equals,” but he focused mainly on the differences and commonalities between digital-first and the legacy media giants.

After citing the impressive market valuations and financial stats associated with Twitter’s recent IPO, Sorrell noted that WPP’s GroupM will double its spending with the microblogging platform, boosting its ad spending from $50 million last year to $100 million this year. Based on Sorrell’s figures, that means GroupM contributes nearly a fifth of all of Twitter’s advertising revenues.

Now what would you do with that kind of budget? Maybe not spend it all on Twitter?

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WPP’s Maxus Appoints New North American CEO

This morning in news that has nothing to do with the Omnicom/Publicis collapse, WPP/GroupM media agency Maxus poached a top executive from Omnicom’s PHD.

Steve Williams, who spent two years as president at PHD, will be Maxus’ new North American CEO starting June 1, replacing the retiring Louis Jones; Williams will report to global CEO Vikram Sakhuja as well as GroupM’s North American chief Kelly Clark.

In the new role, Williams will work with the New York, L.A., Chicago, Minneapolis and Toronto offices of what the press release and RECMA call “the fastest growing global media agency for the past four years.”

Before joining PHD, Williams served as CEO of the UK’s OMD Group.

No word on how much pleasure Martin Sorrell took in making this announcement.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

First Business Tenant Is Set for a Trade Center Building

A media management company, GroupM, signed a lease to occupy nine floors of what would be the World Trade Center site’s third office tower.