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Starcom MediaVest Creates New Ad Buying Unit Focused on Local Media

Starcom MediaVest Group is creating a new ad buying unit, the SMG Exchange or SMGX, that will serve clients at Starcom, Spark and MediaVest. The new group will focus on local media, including radio, TV, out-of-home, newspapers, sports sponsorships, and licensing and merchandising opportunities.

National broadcast will be added by next year.

John Muszynski, now chief investment officer for SMG, is in charge of building the new operation from scratch, writes Adweek. The head of buying at the three shops will continue to report to the CEOs of their agencies, but will also have some reporting responsibility to Muszynski.

The point of the new unit is to make the most of the scale of the buying volume that happens across the three shops. Equally important, says Laura Desmond, worldwide CEO at SMG, is the “fusing of data and market intelligence and advance technology with scale. Those three things work hand in hand.”

Clients can choose to keep their dollars with their current shop or shift to the SMG Exchange. They can also shift budgets between the two, as opportunities arise.