Agency Spy

Good morning! More news coming out of OMD about its restructuring to stay a lean mean, fighting machine. Jon Raj has been named chief digital officer of OMD USA, replacing that hot 40-under-40 Scott Hagedorn, was recently named managing director of OMD’s East Coast region. AdWeak reports that previously, Raj was VP, advertising and emerging platforms at Visa, an OMD client, but prior to that he pulled stints at Saatchi & Saatchi, Ketchum, CKS and Tonic360. Welcome back, Raj! You know its more fun on the advertising side of the pond. The ad biz is, you kno, it’s more creative, possibly even more free, as you get to work on more brands than the one, get your hands dirty.

Anyway, Raj is going to take up the charge of integrating OMD’s digital units.

“As part of that integration, a digital specialist now sits on every account team and employee training is being implemented to instill new technologies as a core competency among all team members.”

How long do you think that will take and what technologies do you think they’re talking about? Why doesn’t AdWeak ask these questions upon follow-up of receiving the press release rather just printing that shit verbatim. Why?

Crain’s just released their 40 under 40 list. Thirty-seven year old Scott Hagedorn, Managing Director, East Coast of OMD, has made the list. Don’t you love this Jedi Mind trick thing he’s doing in the photo? Check it out his full profile here, but see the best details below.

“To make a quick buck, he started The Famous Flying Barracuda Co., selling self-made, fiberglass barracudas with fake owl wings for $400 each through fishing suppliers like Orvis.”

“Mr. Hagedorn co-founded digital agency Breatheinteractive. In 2002, WestWayne bought the shop, which had grown to $125 million in billings. Soon after, Mr. Hagedorn landed an even bigger gig, moving to Manhattan-based Rapp Collins as chief interactive officer.”

“This year, he was given a broader mandate to oversee all of OMD’s East Coast business, which represents the bulk of the agency’s $10.8 billion in billings in the United States.”

Scott is part of the sea change happening over at OMD, as the shop looks to restructure. At the 4A’s conference, Scott talking about the changes at OMD said:

“We’re in the front line trying to make an investment recommendation that crosses multiple channels grounded in ROI and uses a lot of different technology. You need somebody very sophisticated to be able to deliver that.”

Also included from the advertising neck of the woods was thirty-one year old Michael Steib, Google’s Director of TV Advertising.

OMD is awake and like, doing stuff. Apparently, the agency has decided to rejigger the ship a bit. The agency is hiring a whole new level of senior execs to oversee their account squads. The first hire is Elizabeth McCune previously of Ogilvy & Mather. She will serve as group client director for one of OMD’s big boy accounts and oversee some smaller ones, too totaling about $500M of business annually. Congrats to Elizabeth.

Scott Hagedorn, managing director of OMD’s eastern region, will be her boss. He told AdWeak that McCune level staffers that:

“We’re telling clients how to spend $50 million or $100 million and we have to be able to objectively say that based on data, modeling [and other] analyses and based on what opportunities exist in the market that this is the best use of their money,” Hagedorn said. “Our client leaders must have that broader business [and] strategically-focused background.”

Um, one would really hope. Shouldn’t that be the case already?

Scott, who just recently took his position at OMD, is rubbing the sleep from the agencies eyes. OMD UK has been kicking ass and taking names posting an impressive growth of 7.5%. Maybe now, OMD US (who ain’t so shabby anyways) might have a chance at doing the same with Scott at the reins.

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OMD has won global media planning and buying chores for the pasta and sauce maker Barilla. Valued at $275-300 million (holy cow!), OMD beat out incumbent Mediaedge:cia and the shop did defend. Also in the review were Carat and Spark, a unit of Starcom MediaVest Group.

Mediaedge:cia is the big winner today taking the estimated $3.4B AT&T account from GSD&M’s Idea City. Christ. That’s such a mouthful.The shop also beat out Digitas and OMD. All four had done previous work for the telecom in some fashion. GSD&M’s Idea City also lost lead agency status to Omnicom sibling BBDO. Ah crap. The Texas based agency also lost Chili’s Grill & Bar and Wal-Mart this past year. Those were some big accounts whose shoes are being filled by some small feet via World Market and John Deere.

On a side note, we hear that… The founders noted that their initials, which form the company’s name, could also stand for “Greed, Sex, Drugs, and Money.” Yeah. We bet they’re wishing they were rolling in all that good stuff now. Betcha bottom dollar that lots of folks are going to lose their jobs. Sorry guys.

Meanwhile, Mediaedge:cia’s UK and global divisions are on a roll. They’ve picked up the BBC Global account. They’ve also won the Canary Islands Tourist Board business, as well as Lil-ets and the UK Car Group.

Read More: Droga5 Steals From Saatchi

Omnicom’s OMD director of U.S. print strategy, Jack Hanrahan, is leaving to start his own consulting practice. His first two clients are Parade magazine and well, OMD. Hanrahan will continue to work at the New York-based agency two days a week through the end of the year, at which point both sides will decide whether to extend the agreement.

Hanrahan, said he wants to “transition to a different style of work, where I don’t have to be on a train five days a week, but at the same time can remain connected to a business that I love.”

What a sweet set-up. READ MORE HERE

Samsung has out its $700M global account into review. The incumbent since 2004, MindShare, is supposedly going to battle it out against Publicis Groupe’s Starcom. According to sources, the “RFPs have asked agencies to submit proposals for ideas, insights and innovation.”

The first stage of the pitch should take place in mid-October at Samsung’s HQ in Seoul. “Samsung currently works with multiple media multiple media agencies and requests for consultation take place on a regular basis,” said a Samsung spokesperson.

Meanwhile, the regional Sony review, which has ZenithOptimedia, OMD, MPG, Universal McCann and MEC all vying for it, is getting to ready to close.

AT&T is conducting a review to consolidate media planning and buying for both its landline and wireless services. It’s time to consolidate. The telecom giant will be issuing an RFP to its incumbent media agenices: GSD&M, Interpublic’s Initiative, Mediaedge:cia, OMD; and Publicis Groupe’s Digitas who has been handling their digital.

The RFP is set to go out in just a few weeks. This will be a fun one to watch. The company spent $2.3 billion media last year, so everyone is going to pull out the stops.

Omnicom Media Group has decided to create a new in-house unit called OMG Digital that will oversee oversee $2 billion worth of web-based media spending. This is a world wide venture for Omnicom covering North America, locations in Asia Pacific, EMEA and Latin America. Clients of Omnicom’s media agencies, OMD and PHD will still get their media buying services through these agencies. OMD digital department head, Sean Finnegan, will become the CEO at the new division.

They’ve made their final choices: Following a months-long review, Johnson & Johnson is expected to announce a new roster of media agencies with the big winners expected to be Omnicom Group’s OMD and independent communications-planning agency Naked, according to executives familiar with the situation. Read More Here

More: Johnson & Johnson Taps JWT