MediaCom USA Hires Mark Fortner As Head Of Innovation

NEW YORK, Aug. 15, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- MediaCom USA announced today the appointment of Mark Fortner as Managing Partner and Head of Innovation, continuing a string of new senior hires announced this summer.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130815/NY64958 )

Mark joins MediaCom from Viacom, where he co-founded a digital marketing innovations team focused on generating results for F500 clients via custom digital marketing campaigns (paid and earned), new media properties, original content, ad products and award-winning social media initiatives.

Mark has 20 years of marketing experience, including stints with both MGM and FOX.  At FOX Sports, Mark channeled his love of short-form storytelling into some of the most iconic and talked-about advertising of the decade. During his tenure, FOX Sports became the most-watched and celebrated network for sports programming, scooping up over 150 major awards including 17 Gold Clios, 7 Cannes Lions and the 2001 Cannes Grand Prix. Mark was subsequently promoted to sister network FX, which he helped grow faster than any other basic cable network at the time. 

From there, Mark became Creative Director for Heavy.com before going to WPP's Berlin Cameron/Red Cell to head up non-traditional advertising for clients that included Coca-Cola, Samsung, Boost Mobile and Silk Soymilk. After running a number of entrepreneurial ventures, Mark subsequently joined Viacom.

"Fusing creativity, media and technology to drive results is what I live for – it's my passion," said Mark.  "When MediaCom came forward with an opportunity to build a new, flexible organization that would do just that for some of the greatest companies in the world, I couldn't resist."

"For an agency devoted to designing and delivering experiences that make people see brands differently, Mark is a dream," added Sasha Savic, CEO of MediaCom USA. "He is an incredibly innovative person with a record of blending a top-notch creative sense with all kinds of media to help amazing companies set themselves apart from their competition. He's already thinking that way for our own clients."

The appointment comes just weeks after the announcement of three other high-profile hires:  Jose Bello, Head of Multicultural; Steve Carbone, Head of Digital and Analytics; and Khartoon Ohan, Head of New Business. The Head of Innovation is a new position for the agency.

About MediaCom
MediaCom is one of the world's leading media communications specialists, with billings exceeding US $28 billion (Source: RECMA 2012). It employs 4,600 people in 113 offices across 89 countries around the globe. The company's strategy is driven by its "People first, better results" philosophy, which places people – consumers, clients and employees – at its core to generate optimum business results. The MediaCom family includes a number of industry-leading divisions, such as: MediaCom Entertainment & Sports Partnerships (ESP), our strategic consultancy specializing in helping brands engage consumers through their passion points; MediaCom Interaction, a global digital and interactive marketing agency, which uses future-forward proprietary technology to grow client businesses; direct response agency MediaCom Direct, which creates close, measured connections with consumers; branded content specialists MediaCom Beyond Advertising; sports sponsorship and strategy team MediaCom Sport; and MediaCom Business Science, which ensures clients achieve maximum sales return. MediaCom Worldwide is a member of WPP, the world's largest marketing communications services group, and part of GroupM, WPP's consolidated media investment management arm. For more information, visit www.mediacomusa.com.

About GroupM
GroupM is the world's largest global media investment management operation, with total billings exceeding US $90 billion (Source: RECMA 2012). It serves as the parent company to WPP media agencies including MediaCom, Maxus, MEC, and Mindshare. Its primary purpose is to maximize the performance of WPP's media communications agencies on behalf of its clients, its shareholders and its people by operating as a parent and collaborator in performance-enhancing activities such as trading, content creation, sports, digital, finance, proprietary tool development and other business-critical capabilities. The agencies that comprise GroupM are all global operations in their own right with leading market positions. The focus of GroupM is the intelligent application of physical and intellectual scale to benefit trading, innovation, and new communication services, and to bring competitive advantage to its clients and companies. For more information, visit www.groupm.com.

SOURCE MediaCom USA