Media Buying Briefing: ‘Permanent beta’: Another European media agency plots U.S. expansion
For the better part of three years, European-based media agency Mediaplus has quietly operated in the U.S., forming partnerships where appropriate and working with clients it serves in other parts of the world, including BMW, Siemens and Sony Music.
But a recent change in leadership in running the U.S. operations signals that Mediaplus is getting serious about ramping up here. And given clients’ desire to expand into new markets, growing the U.S. is of paramount importance to the media agency.
Tamara Alesi and Jasmine Presson, two media agency vets with experience at GroupM and Omnicom, were tapped at the end of 2021 to lead Mediaplus, respectively as chief client officer and chief strategy officer. They take the reins from Phil Cowdell, a longtime media agency veteran who had run Mediaplus the year prior but left in late 2021 to join health-driven marketer Vaxxinity. Both report to Matthias Brüll, who oversees Mediaplus globally.
Alesi and Presson, who were recommended to take over Mediaplus domestically by Cowdell himself, said the push to expand now in the U.S. is driven by opportunity stemming from client frustration with holding companies. “Clients are really rejecting [the] bloat of fees, the timelines, the opaque media plans” of the holding companies,” said Alesi. “If COVID taught us anything, it’s that efficiency does not equal effectiveness. Advertisers’ responses are really varied — we see a lot more in housing happening, we see a hybrid approach. The most frustrating part is there’s this systematic, wasteful, re-pitch every two to three years.”
Mediaplus’ goal, Presson added, is to present itself to clients as a business partner, and not as a “bulk buyer of media,” she said. “Whether it’s dealing with some unexplained, unexpected supply chain bottleneck, or a TikTok trend, we’re built to pivot quickly when necessary. Independence allows us that flexibility. Tam and I see ourselves as permanent beta.”
Andy Smith, global marketing director for Yu MOVE, a pet health company in the U.K. that’s expanding into the U.S. market, said Alesi and Presson have seamlessly slid into Cowdell’s place, given that Cowdell had won the client for Mediaplus a year ago. “Culturally they’re very similar to the previous team,” said Smith.
The brand had planned a veterinarian-targeted rollout last year, but pulled back when COVID prevented people largely from visiting vets. Now, under Alesi and Presson, Yu MOVE changed tactics and is pursuing a sponsorship-based plan. “Given [the U.S.] is a new market, we felt like we needed a business partner, and that was vindicated because of all the headwinds COVID threw our way,” said Smith, who noted the pivot helped Yu MOVE avoid lots of wasteful spend.
Siemens Healthineers, a medical device firm, is another global client expanding in the U.S., for which Mediaplus handled B2B work that involved goefencing and AI-driven targeting. “The U.S. is one of our focus markets so it was important for us that Mediaplus has strong representation there,” said Kathrin Wild, head of promotions and campaigns, in an email to Digiday. …read more
Source:: Digiday
