MDC's Herman in Interview Prior to September 25th Panel (Part 2 of 2)
Posted by Jay Sears on Thu, Sep 24, 2009 @ 06:36 AM
Today we are running Part Two of our Q&A with Darren Herman, Founder & President, Varick Media Management (MDC Partners). This is part of our series of Q&As with top agency execs on our upcoming panel discussion, "Agency Demand Platforms: Is Everyone a Media Trader?" during Advertising Week this Friday, September 25th at 11:00am until 11:45am.
Herman joins a panel of agency executives with similar responsibilities including Quentin George, Managing Partner, Cadreon (Interpublic); Matthew Greitzer, Vice President of Search Marketing and Head of ATOM Systems at Razorfish; Curt Hecht, President, VivaKi Nerve Center, VivaKi (Publicis); and Nathan Woodman, Managing Director, Adnetik (Havas). ContextWeb's Jay Sears will moderate a discussion about the "demand platform" strategy of each company.
To attend the event as a guest of ContextWeb and the ADSDAQ Exchange, you can register here. ContextWeb's ADSDAQ Exchange is donating $25 for every attendee to GeneratioNext.
We'll be posting Q&A with panelists and further information leading up to this event, so make sure you subscribe to our Internet Advertising blog, follow ContextWeb on Twitter and join the Ad Exchange Traders Group via LinkedIn.
Here is the rest of our Q&A with Herman:
As you continue to implement your agency's trading strategy, does it permeate across the agency, requiring new skill sets among employees and new workflow for the purchase and assessment of media? Or is the strategy concentrated in a trading group or division that acts in a service capacity to existing client account groups?
VMM has been created to be the technology and services backbone for the holding companies trading strategies at least for the short-term, or until our agencies ramp up their education and are able to leverage our platform and we move into the background by continuing to power all of their trades and research. The reason why we chose to create a separate entity is because we knew that the skill sets required to work with data, analytics and analysis, deep-quant driven media decisions do not encompass all of our agencies and if we concentrated a select group together, we'd be able to first create the DNA needed to get into market quickly and it has led to an early mover advantage and lead for VMM amongst our peers.
At the 2008 IAB Annual Meeting, Rob Norman, Global CEO of GroupM Interaction Worldwide said: "Today, we plan and trade on behalf of our clients. Tomorrow and in some places today we also trade on our own behalf where we can create value and deserve our place in the chain... We charge at the moment for the cost of inputs but again if we charge on the basis of the value of the outputs we are perfectly entitled to do that too."
In one way or another, all agencies are arbitraging. In the US, agencies are arbitraging human talent. In Europe, they are arbitraging media. I think the conversation should not be as myopic as arbitrage, but rather should be about whether or not they are delivering results.
Do you buy media or audience for your clients?
Audience overlayed media.
Do you believe in the substitutability of media? Quantcast says you can reach 13 million users looking at sports content on ESPN and you can reach 16 million users looking at sports content on the ADSDAQ Exchange and that both audiences have similar demos. Say pricing for ESPN is $30 (CPM) and ContextWeb's ADSDAQ Exchange is $8 (CPM). Discuss.
Depending on the campaign and goals of the client, substitutability can certainly play a role. Fundamentally at VMM, we believe in this but some clients do not. With clients who demand contextual natures of say an ESPN, substitutability obviously do not play a role here.
Tell us about you.
What did you do last Saturday?
It was daddy day in the Herman household and my 10 month old son caught a cold the night before, so I was stuck cleaning buggers and poop. Fun. In between that, I penned an article for John Ebert's AdExchanger.com.
What's the best conference you attended in the last two years?
None. I actually dislike conferences but prefer closed door small gatherings of intelligent people.
If you could be appointed to any position in a US Presidential cabinet post, what position would it be and why?
None, I'd rather hit the road with the Dave Matthews Band.
On what specific day will the US Treasury Secretary declare the recession in the United States is over?
March 4, 2010 - I picked this very specific date for no other reason than it being my birthday.
Your LinkedIn profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/darrenherman
Your Twitter account: http://www.twitter.com/dherman76
Thanks, Darren!
Need to register for this Friday's panel discussion, "Agency Demand Platforms: Is Everyone a Media Trader?" during Advertising Week (Friday, September 25th at 11:00am until 11:45am)?
To attend the event as a guest of ContextWeb and the ADSDAQ Exchange, you can register here. ContextWeb's ADSDAQ Exchange is donating $25 for every attendee to GeneratioNext.
We'll be posting Q&A with panelists and further information leading up to this event, so make sure you subscribe to our Internet Advertising blog, follow ContextWeb on Twitter and join the Ad Exchange Traders Group via LinkedIn.
Subscribe to our
Internet Advertising blog, follow
ContextWeb on Twitter and join the
Ad Exchange Traders Group via LinkedIn.