Durham-based ad agency McKinney has signed a contract with Virgin Atlantic Airways, an account that likely will bring more cachet to the creative center. McKinney will be responsible for developing advertising strategies for the airline. London-based MEC Interaction will support McKinney by bridging the gap between the work and the target audience. Virgin will likely spend $7 million on marketing and will use non-traditional media to market the ads. McKinney, which also works for Virgin Mobile, will officially start working for the airline in August.
Publicis plans to restructure ad agencies
Publicis, a France-based marketing group, will restructure two of its best-known advertising agencies: Fallon and Saatchi & Saatchi. Saatchi has struggled in the UK but has been successful in the US, while Fallon has been stronger in London. The agencies will now have joint management in the U.S. and the UK in an effort to bring together the two agencies in the world's biggest and third-biggest advertising markets, respectively. Saatchi will look to reorganize some of its management, but the offices of both agencies in other markets will remain unchanged. The attempt to unite two of the biggest agencies is expected to create waves in the $400 billion-a-year global advertising industry.
AOL will buy Tacoda for $275 million
AOL will buy online ad agency Tacoda for $275 million. AOL, a business unit of Time Warner, has purchased the online tracking company in an attempt to shift from a subscription model to an ad-driven Internet model. Tacoda, Inc. is an online company that specializes in tracking web-user habits to produce targeted online ads. With expertise in behavioral marketing, the company advertises to web users based on their Internet-viewing habits. Tacoda, like Advertising.com, will now be an independent subsidiary of AOL.
