Omnicom Makes Global Cross-Platform Play With MediaMind

Following years of collaboration and more than a year of negotiations, Omnicom Media Group has partnered with MediaMind to use the DG division’s ad technology platform for the management and delivery of digital ads. Through the deal, Omnicom’s clients gain direct access to MediaMind’s digital advertising capabilities in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Latin America and the Asia-Pacific region. Apple, Levi Strauss and Nissan may take advantage of the new partnership.

The partnership is significant from a cross-platform perspective, said Andrew Bloom, SVP of strategic development at MediaMind. “Cross platform is more a belief system and strategy of MediaMind,” he said. “Technology should be a simplifier, an enabler, and not a source of fragmentation, not a source of frustration that leads to huge inefficiencies and cost.”

Omnicom’s enterprise marketing company, Annalect, and its trading desk Accuen are integrating the platforms of MediaMind and DG to make way for more effective cross-channel campaigns. “The crux of the deal is around rich media, around standard ad delivery, video ad delivery, and mobile ad delivery,” Bloom added. “Being part of the DG organization has made it that now we’re being rewarded with the opportunity to work with senior leadership at companies like Omnicom. Two years ago that wasn’t really a possibility. We’ve now established ourselves as a large-scale player.”

Because DG and MediaMind can cover the full span of TV and digital, advertisers that want to push more budget into online video can work with a single provider through a single workflow and product, he added.

MediaMind is also working with NBC as the exclusive vendor of a custom, premium ad format for the digital side of NBC’s Olympics coverage, and is responsible for most of the custom ads that NBC will deliver throughout the games.

Last year, MediaMind was acquired by DG, which delivers roughly 80 percent of all TV ads in the United States, according to Bloom. Today, more than 12,000 companies manage their digital campaigns on MediaMind’s platform.

Apple, Levi Strauss and Nissan are among the major Omnicom brand clients that might take advantage of this new partnership early on, said Bloom. “For a lot of these customers, the way that it works is increasingly they’re looking to a single tech provider that has the resources to serve more than one territory and even more than one operating company,” said Bloom. Omnicom did not respond to several requests to comment for this story.

“The value add for them is global coordination, the integrity of the data and local service, and local knowledge of all the intricacies of working with publishers and different (service-level agreements) that are required in different markets. It’s one thing to say you’re global, but you really need to be local in all of these markets.”

With an opportunity to consolidate rates and streamline cross-channel coordination efforts among brands, agencies and campaign management platforms, Bloom said he wouldn’t be surprised if more companies try to consolidate their operations and align advertising objectives.