Mediabrands, Microsoft to Unveil Developments of Future-State Campaign Management Architecture and Encourage Greater Industry Collaboration

NEW YORK, June 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Mediabrands and Microsoft Advertising today announced developments on the Media Operations Management System (M.O.M.S.), an agency agnostic, enterprise-level architecture to connect the marketing ecosystem.  Since launching the M.O.M.S. project in June 2009, Mediabrands and Microsoft have expanded their team to include agency, publisher, data and industry trade organizations.  As the leading national trade organization for U.S. advertising agencies, the American Association of Advertising Agencies (4A's) has agreed to lead an industry-wide coalition to further develop the open and integrated cross-functional system across the advertising and marketing landscape.  Initially, the coalition will collaborate to organize a set of operating principles aimed at solving critical business needs facing advertising agencies today.  The 4A's will announce details on the coalition members in the coming weeks.

"Today, marketers are continually forced to make decisions on imperfect information and suffer from a lack of truly actionable data. M.O.M.S was designed to unite a disconnected marketing ecosystem and inspire greater collaboration and innovation across our industry," stated Quentin George, Chief Digital Officer, Mediabrands.  "We began with an aggressive ambition and are ready for partners along the entire marketing spectrum to coalesce and help develop a truly integrated solution.  We applaud the 4A's for agreeing to develop a coalition that will change the future of our industry."

"Our agency partners constantly ask for solutions to meet key business needs and M.O.M.S. has great potential to address each of them via a supportive technology architecture that will enable interoperability and drive operational and economic efficiencies," stated Nancy Hill, President and CEO, American Association of Advertising Agencies.  "Simply put, this is a way for agencies to finally realize the business and economic efficiencies that so many other businesses and industries have benefited from over the past 10 years.  True industry collaboration will drive this forward and the 4A's is committed to bringing together leaders who are willing to place a premium on advancing the cause of the industry as a whole and turning vision into action."

M.O.M.S., as originally conceived by Mediabrands and Microsoft Advertising, is designed to drive the following benefits for agencies:

• Establish a sharper correlation of marketing impact to business results
• Create integration between advertisers, agencies, media owners and technology partners
• Drive greater value and effectiveness of marketing efforts
• Create better understanding of consumers' interaction with brands in select environments
• Enable the development of improved briefs for creative and content development
• Establish standards for data transfer and data governance
• Accelerate the adoption of marketplace and auction-based buying models
• Increase the scalability and expansion of marketing activities

"When we launched the M.O.M.S. project with Mediabrands, our goal was to develop a framework that would help reduce unnecessary waste and friction, and enable an agency to devote more energy to creating compelling advertising campaigns and less time 'connecting the dots' and managing the complexity behind those campaigns," said Marc Bresseel, Vice President/Global Agencies, Microsoft Advertising.  "Since this challenge confronts all agencies, we are delighted that the 4As has agreed to help take M.O.M.S. to the next logical step in its evolution – that of a solution that has the potential to impact an entire industry."

To date, the current M.O.M.S. team has created two key documents:

1. Media Planning and Buying Workflow Manual: Detailed media planning and buying business processes across advertisers, agencies and media owners; and
2. Technical and Functional Ecosystem Architecture: An enterprise architecture blueprint for an optimized campaign management experience.

About Mediabrands

Created by IPG to manage all of its global media-related assets, Mediabrands employs 6,500 communications specialists operating in 90 countries and manages $32B in global media billings, according to RECMA.  A proven entity in helping clients maximize the impact of their marketing investment to deliver explosive business results, Mediabrands enhances the communications offering and performance across its network of media agencies including Initiative, UM, MAGNA and a roster of Specialty Service Groups.  Mediabrands is part of Interpublic Group (NYSE: IPG) www.interpublic.com, one of the world's leading organizations of advertising agencies and marketing services companies.  For more information, please visit www.mediabrandsww.com.

About Microsoft Advertising

Microsoft Advertising provides world-class advertising tools and solutions for digital advertisers and publishers to drive brand and consumer engagement. The portfolio includes all of Microsoft's digital advertising businesses: its global media network that includes MSN, Windows Live, Office Live, Xbox LIVE, Live Search, Facebook and more, and its global technology platforms and tools that include Atlas, AdECN, adCenter, the Microsoft Media Network, Mobile Advertising, Massive, and Navic, which together create engaging digital advertising experiences for their consumers. Microsoft Advertising helps make buying and selling media simple, smart and cost-effective across media and devices in the Microsoft network of properties and beyond, which spans 42 markets globally and 21 languages. Visit http://advertising.microsoft.com for more information.

About the 4A's

The 4A's is the national trade association of the advertising agency business. The 1,196 member agency offices it serves in the United States employ 65,000 people, offer a wide range of marketing communications services, and place 80 percent of all national advertising. The management-oriented association helps its members build their businesses, and acts as the industry's spokesman with government, media, and the public sector. For more information visit our Web site at www.aaaa.org.

SOURCE Mediabrands