Execs and Accounts for October 9, 2002

Two months after its introduction, advertisers are putting Unicast’s Online Format Suite to use. The rich media planning and buying tool is designed to replicate the simplicity of use media buyers enjoy in offline media, and it seems to be winning converts.

Some of the advertisers using multiple formats within the suite for their current and upcoming campaigns are Buena Vista Films/Disney, Celebrity Cruise Lines, General Motors, Honda, and Universal Pictures.

“By using the full suite or any combination of In Between-Page, Over-Page and/or In-Page formats, agencies are saving 30 to 60 percent of their time in booking campaigns,” said Unicast’s Allie Savarino, senior vice president of global marketing. “This translates into increased value and return on investment against online media dollars and accordingly increased budget allocation to the medium.”

The Online Format Suite is aimed at furthering Unicast’s goal of the standardization of rich media, by providing a single interface for the production and financial management of online rich media campaigns. Additionally, it can integrate television and other offline advertising with online.

Topica, a provider of self-service email products, will provide email publishing services for various sites within Terra Lycos’ network. Users of Lycos Network Web sites, including the popular Tripod and HTML Gear sites, will have access to Topica Email Publisher, an integrated email marketing tool. Topica Exchange, a free email discussion group service, will also be available to users of Lycos’ Community sites.

“We are proud to have a relationship with the Lycos sites,” said Scott Olrich, senior vice president of business development at Topica. “Tripod and HTML Gear are providing users with powerful ways to maintain great sites and enhance their utility. Customers of these sites will appreciate the ability to extend their Web communications to email.”

T3 (The Think Tank), an Austin-based integrated marketing firm, has launched a New York office. The new office will be staffed by a group of professionals that converged over the past two years while servicing Intel in separate gigs and were later collectively hired by T3.

The team is comprised of John McGarry, managing director; Leslie North, media director; Darren Carew, senior media planner; Brandon Griffin, creative director; and Ted Villa, production director.

“Our new office will provide a level of service that does not exist in many larger, network-based agencies,” said Gay Gaddis, T3 founder and president. “We are in an unique position to take advantage of this market and to successfully execute our clients’ digital advertising needs.”

Games Domain has appointed media sales agent Premium Network to oversee its media sales for the U.S. territory. Premium Network said it will offer advertisers a specialized service specifically tailored to the U.S. market.

“Premium Network looks forward to working with Games Domain to further promote the Web site here in the US,” Ken Margolis, president of Premium Network, said. “We are confident advertisers will be impressed by what the site has to offer.”

Established in 1994, Games Domain was among the first online gaming Web sites. It supports a range of rich media ad formats, including skyscraper, EyeBlaster and Unicast formats. Recent campaigns on the site include the Warner Brothers. movie “Eight Legged Freaks” and FunCom’s “Anarchy Online.”

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