Agency News: Acxiom Wins Guardian; MEC Hires Digital Director, West

Guardian News & Media Taps Acxiom for Global Database. The multi-year contract will generate customer profiles with audience preferences and behavior. The publisher of The Guardian and The Observer says it aims "to place open journalism on the web at the heart of its strategy and drive deeper engagement with its audiences."

Acxiom recently scored a new CEO, Scott Howe, who hails from Microsoft and aQuantive.

McCann New York Lays Off. Agency has let go a significant number of staff recently, according to reports. Some stories put the tally of dismissed staffers at 4 percent of the office.

MEC N.A. Hires Petrickova. Media agency MEC North America hired Jitka Petrickova as managing director, digital West. Petrickova was most recently VP, audience strategy and intelligence at Cadreon, where she pushed the company’s audience based planning model across the client portfolio.

NeboWeb Rebrands. Atlanta-based agency has taken the name Nebo Agency and launched a new site. It specializes in web design, development, search marketing, and pay per click advertising.