In this new role, Roberto will be responsible for leading the global strategic development and marketing priorities for MEC’s Michelin client.

“I’m extremely happy to have a person of Roberto’s stature join our Global Solutions team in Paris,” Axel Dumont said. ”Roberto’s unique blends of communication, strategic and international client management expertise are the core skills that will take our partnership with Michelin to the next level. This is an important investment in support of our existing Michelin work.”

Roberto Passariello commented, ‘I’m thrilled to be joining MEC at this exciting time.  I’m looking forward to contributing to the strategic thinking behind such an iconic global brand as Michelin.”

Prior to joining MEC, Roberto was Marketing and Communication Director at Bell & Ross, where he developed positioning and strategy for the brand as well as all digital activities and launch the e-commerce website.

Prior to Bell & Ross, Roberto  was Marketing and Trade Communication Director at Eurosport where he organized and developed key sponsor activities during the Olympic Games in Athens (2004), Torino (2006), and Beijing (2008) developing the partnerships with the IOC and sponsor brands. With over 25 years experience in the marketing, communication and media business, Roberto has previously held roles at Euro Disney as Director of Advertising as well as collaborated with some of the major advertising agencies in Paris and New-York (DMB&B, CLM/BBDO and Bates) working for prestigious brands such as Apple, Total, P&G, Henkel, Mars Foods, Roche, Max Mara, Ballantine’s whiskey.

The Media Edge pioneered the concept of the independent media agency in North America and CIA was Europe’s first-ever media independent.

MEC was the first media agency to create a specialist digital operation, Outrider, in 1995.  Against the trend, MEC fully integrated their specialist digital services within the agency in 2003, enabling them to offer a seamless Paid Owned and Earned product to clients.

A founding partner of GroupM in 2003, MEC pioneered the concept of group trading and GroupM remains a unique and ground-breaking concept in our industry.

In 2007 was a big year for MEC.  Firstly MEC Bravo was launched, now the third largest integrated multi-cultural agency in the US. Then the agency integrated its 30 market-strong specialist Sports, Sponsorship and Cause marketing services under MEC Access creating a world-leading position overnight.

In 2010, the agency led the way again in by integrating their specialist Analytics and Insight groups.  The move was critical in being able to address the future needs of their clients; giving them even bigger and better cross-over opportunities, by better understanding the effects of digital and traditional media in the purchase pathway.

That same year the game changing ‘action leadership’ Are you in control enough to let go? was published and shared with over 200 clients around the world – providing a roadmap for their (and MEC’s) media future.

Charles Courtier, Global CEO said, “We’ve achieved a lot since our launch in 2002.  In the past ten years we have more than doubled in size and we were named RECMA’s fastest growing network of the decade.  Our global network was named media agency of the year in both 2006 and 2007 by Advertising Age and Adweek, an unprecedented honour; and we’ve racked-up 53 local Agency of the Year awards all over the world in the decade.  

We constantly challenge ourselves to accelerate change.  Keeping pace with today’s communications landscape continues to occupy most of our waking hours.  Our ability to provide strategic leadership to our clients in this environment is the key to our future.

It’s been an exceptional ten years.  The ‘challenger’ in us is alive and well.  But at MEC, we’ve always had the confidence and commitment to push through change on a global scale where it benefits our clients and our people.

We look forward to the next ten with relish and excitement.”

Michael Dick joins from Coca Cola EMEA as Head of Strategy for Global Solutions, London.  He replaces Charlie Wright, who has transferred to MEC’s Global Solutions in Singapore as Head of Strategy. 

Francesca Ronfini joins from Aegis’ JumpTank as Strategy Partner for Global Solutions London.

Both Michael and Francesca will work across the agency’s largest international clients in EMEA and globally.

Commenting on the hires, Ed Ling said, “It’s a fantastic testament to the creativity and strategic ambition of MEC that Michael and Francesca have elected to join our Global Solutions team.  In today’s changing communications world it is imperative that we deliver step change in strategic leadership for our clients.  Michael and Francesca have been charged to work with our global client leaders to drive thought leadership, creativity and strategic development for our clients and we look forward to exciting developments together.”

Mel Varley said, “MEC continues to invest in strategic leadership for our clients.  We are creating a deeper and stronger strategy team working across our London, New York and Singapore hubs for the benefit of our clients.  The strategic firepower we are amassing is formidable and will really help us to deliver our promise to clients – to be their most valued business partner, creating and activating inspiring and exceptional marketing campaigns.”

Michael reports to Ed Ling, Managing Director of Global Solutions, London.  He joins the Global Solutions Board and becomes a member of MEC’s Global Planning Forum led by Mel Varley, MEC’s Global Chief Strategy Officer.  Francesca’s position is new and she will report to Michael.

Michael Dick has spent the last 13 years in a variety of senior marketing communication roles at Coca-Cola. Most notably he was a pioneer in their approach to Integrated Marketing Communication with the set up and leadership of the IMC Team at Coca-Cola Great Britain in 2005-2007.  During his time he launched of a number of breakthrough and award winning initiatives: the launch of the Coke Zone Digital platform, the “Win a Player” Promotion and Football League Sponsorship and new  IMC campaigns for brands such as Dr Pepper, Schweppes, Coca-Cola Christmas, Diet Coke, Coke Zero and Oasis.

As Connection Planning Director for Europe, he was responsible for the intra-agency approach for the Euro Championships 2008. He joins MEC after leading the strategic planning for the recently launched Coca-Cola “Move to the Beat” Olympics campaign.

Michael started his career in the sporting goods industry working both agency and client side for brands such as Reebok International. Before joining Coca-Cola, he worked at Millward Brown focussing on marcoms development and testing, media effectiveness and econometrics.

On the industry side, Michael has been involved in setting up and then chairing a successful new IMC client group for the World Federation of Advertisers. He consulted on ISBA’s “Guide To Integrated Marketing Communications” (2010), has presented at the ISBA Conference and worked on a number of ISBA and IPA committees. 

Francesca Ronfini has developed both a global and local perspective on marketing communications by working in strategy and innovation groups within Aegis Media for the last twelve years, in Milan, London and New York.  Over her career Francesca has developed media agnostic, communication ideas that drive brand interaction for companies including The Walt Disney Company, Kellogg’s, Pernod-Ricard, H&M, LVMH, Beiersdorf, GSK and many others.  She moved to the US in 2009 as a Partner at JumpTank, Aegis Media’s innovation catalyst. There, Francesca managed the relationship with the MIT Media Lab, with the objective of developing a vision for how people will connect and participate in the future and how brands will find a role in the media ecosystem.

Francesca is passionate about understanding how media convergence will affect people’s lives in the near future, particularly women whose purchase influence will grow as a result.  For the moment the convergence of social, content and commerce is fuelling her passion for modern art, and as a result her spending in online auctions.

Michael and Francesca are the latest strategy hires and promotions in MEC around the world in 2012. Others include:

• Raj Gupta, Chief Strategy Officer for Asia Pacific, promoted from Regional Planning Director.
• Charlie Wright, Head of Planning Global Solutions, Singapore, transferred from Global Solutions, London
• Kristian Bauek-Mikkelsen, Senior Partner, Engagement Planning, joined MEC North America from MEC Denmark
• Scott Schwartz, Senior Partner, Engagement Planning, joined MEC North America from UM
• Selena Lee, International Strategy Leader joined MEC Los Angeles from Vizeum
• Thomas Nolsoe, Chief Strategy Officer, MEC China, transferred from MEC Denmark

MEC’s awards came in the heavyweight categories – Best Use of TV, Newspapers & Magazines and Digital & Internet. MEC’s haul of two Golds was the most by any agency at Goafest this year. Goafest is one of the most prestigious shows in India and is commonly referred to as the Cannes of the East.

The details of the wins are as follows:

* Best use of TV: Gold – Reliance 3G ‘Feeling is believing’

* Best use of newspapers & magazines: Gold – Colgate Dental Cream ‘Night Hammer’

* Best use of digital & Internet: Silver – Reliance Mobile ‘Ego-Search’ (no gold was awarded in this category)

* Best use of TV: Bronze – Reliance Mobile – ‘My network versus your network’

Shubha George, Chief Operating Officer, South Asia MEC, stated “MEC’s awards at Goafest reflect our DNA – creative work that is rooted in sound strategic thinking and sharp consumer insight.  Be it Reliance’s Feeling is Believing and My Network vs Your Network or Ego search or Colgate’s Night Hammer, all of these very creative innovations stem from a strong consumer insight that underpinned the strategy.  I’m also very pleased that we came out tops across media – TV, Print and Digital.  We look forward to more such winning campaigns that are both strategic and innovative”

T Gangadhar, Managing Director, MEC India, said “I am delighted with MEC's performance at Goafest this year. We were the only agency to win two Golds. We have always strived towards insight-based strategic solutions for our clients and this recognition is heartening.”

He further added, “This has been an eventful month for MEC India - we released the fourth edition of our IPL TV rating estimation study, won Gold at the global Festival of Media Awards and had a golden run at Goafest. It's a fitting testimony to the kind of agency we are – where strategic rigor meets powerful insight-based ideas.“

She had been acting GM since January 1^st following Christian Guinot’s move to MEC China.

The promotion is effective immediately and Maria will report to Anna Lubowska, MEC’s Chairman for CEE and Russia region.

Maria has been with MEC since 2001 and worked closely with Christian and the management team during that time.  Prior to joining MEC, Maria graduated from Moscow Lomonosov State University and has been working in advertising and media since 1997.

In her role as General Manager, Maria will be charged with developing MEC’s resources, product and strategy across Russia, driving new business and delivering integrated Paid, Owned and Earned strategies to local and multi-national clients.

Maria will be supported in her role by Anna Lubowska who regularly spends 50% of her time in Moscow; by Rogier Croes, the CEE and Russia regional Managing Director; and by the strong and talented Russia Management team.

Anna Lubowska said, “Russia is our largest market in the region and as it continues to develop its performance will have a major impact on MEC in EMEA and globally. It is vital therefore that we structure our business to ensure that our team benefits from the focus of our best people in order to deliver the best of MEC to our clients.  

In Maria we are extremely fortunate to have a person with such strong skills and reputation within our company.   This is absolutely the right move for us in Russia and I sincerely believe that MEC is in very good hands.  On a personal level, it is a privilege to have a chance to work closely with one of MEC’s tried and trusted specialists and I look forward to exciting times ahead.”

In this new role, she will be responsible for identifying, creating, and executing brand integrations for MEC’s clients as well as implementing fully integrated marketing programs around content, across multiple platforms. Susan joins a team that includes Evan Fleischer, Senior Partner, who will now oversee entertainment strategy and original content. Susan and Evan are based in New York and report to Chet Fenster, Managing Partner of MEC Entertainment.

“Susan’s a real triple threat, the rare executive with agency, production and studio experience. Her deep understanding of programming and brand marketing will benefit MEC clients and our partners,” Chet Fenster commented, “This reaffirms MEC Entertainment’s commitment to bring together the best executives in branded content, combining marketing expertise, digital knowledge, and programming skills.  As Owned and Earned become crucial parts of every brand’s media strategy, we have a world class team of experienced storytellers to guide our clients.”   

Prior to joining MEC, Susan was Senior Director of Brand Engagement for Scratch, Viacom’s in-house creative team. In addition to providing creative and strategic insight to brands, she was responsible for account management and the execution of client activities across digital and traditional engagement platforms. Before that, Susan served as Vice President of Development and Production for Omnicom’s branded entertainment company, Full Circle Entertainment and oversaw projects including “The Club” (Spike TV), “Bound for Glory” (ESPN), “Lucky Chance” (TNT) and “Hallmark Heroes with Regis Philbin,” which she created and executive produced. Susan got her start in television as a talent booker on the Emmy Award winning “The Rosie O’Donnell Show” and went on to serve as a producer at the Fox News Channel, “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” and “The Caroline Rhea Show.”

Coming off her stint at MTV and Viacom, Susan commented, "I'm excited to be working with a new team of rock stars! MEC is the best in the business at creating content extensions, and I hope to expand their capabilities in transmedia storytelling."

Evan Fleischer joined MEC four years ago and has been instrumental in shepherding ground-breaking entertainment projects including the award winning digital series, “Around for the World for Free” for AT&T.  Evan’s background includes senior executive positions at IFC, Fuse TV, and Heavy.com. He started his career in theatre and is currently producing the Off-Broadway musical “Rated P for Parenthood” at the Westside Theatre.

MEC Entertainment proudly engages audiences with the best in brand funded content.  Recent accomplishment include the hit television show “Fix This Kitchen” for IKEA, which just wrapped its second season on A&E, and has already spawned an international version in the Netherlands, as well as AT&T’s Conan Synch App, a dual screen tablet experience developed as part of a year-long partnership with Conan and TBS.

In this new role, Erin will be the client leader responsible for the Soup and Simple Meals division of the agency’s Campbell’s client. She will be based in New York and report to Beth Egan, Managing Director, Account Director for Campbell Soup Company.

Beth said, “We’re thrilled to have Erin join our team. Her passion for the business and her experience will be invaluable as we drive innovation on the Campbell’s business.”

Erin joins MEC from MediaVest where she spent the seven years working on Coca-Cola North America. Her most recent appointment was Vice-President, Communications Director, overseeing the Sparkling business and multi-cultural strategy for the portfolio. Prior to joining MediaVest, she spent time honing her craft at advertising agencies including Grey Worldwide (New York), Young & Rubicam (San Francisco) and Ammirati Puris Lintas (New York).

Erin has won top industry awards such as 2011 Internationalist Award for “Innovation in Media” for Sprite Step-off. In 2010, her work for the Coke Youth campaign won at the OMMA awards. Other industry awards include Effie, for Coke Zero; Festival of Media, for Sprite NBA Partnership, and MediaPost Digital OOH, for Diet Coke Style Series.

She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English from Villanova University and currently resides in New Jersey.  

The study has now come to be the definitive guide for all marketers and advertisers, as far as the Indian Premier League is concerned.

The IPL is, without doubt, the country’s most celebrated cricket event and perforce the most popular content on TV. The League is a critical variable to be considered in every marketing plan – regardless of advertisers choosing to invest in it or otherwise. This makes the MEC IPL study that much more valuable to the industry. Estimating IPL’s TV ratings involves a combination of primary consumer research and strategic factor modeling. The research was carried out in 9 cities that have IPL teams with a sample size of 100 respondents per city -men and women, 15 years+, SEC ABC. The consumer research helped in assessing ground realities such as overall interest in IPL Season 5, likelihood to watch IPL on television and team and player popularity. Not surprisingly, the three key factors that will impact the TV ratings are team popularity, time of the match and day of the week. 

Sharing her views on the study Shubha George, Chief Operating Officer, South Asia MEC said, “MEC’s IPL estimation has become an industry benchmark. Having started this pioneering piece in IPL season 2, we at MEC have over the years built on the methodology for the estimation and have expertise that can well be applied for other such TV events. Our TV viewership estimation has helped our clients plan their investments in this period well informed. Industry best practice initiatives such as this reverberates MEC’s mantra of Active Engagement and provides actionable consumer insights that help design campaigns truly engage brands with its consumers.”

Key highlights from the MEC IPL TV Rating Viewership 2012, are as follows

• Viewership pattern: Despite the intense speculation around the event within the industry, IPL still seems to hold charm for the viewer. Viewership is expected to stabilize at lower levels than the peaks of early seasons. After the 29% drop in ratings in IPL4, the average league rating for IPL5 is estimated to be at 3.8%, a marginal 2.5% increase from the last season. Only 16% of the viewers claim to be weary due to declining interest over the seasons and only 12% said that they would spend lesser time watching IPL this season.
• Team support: IPL’s second and third seasons had seen an almost equitable support across all teams. Affinity in season five has significantly moved towards Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings with a cumulative support of 45%. Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders follow in support with 12% and 11% each. Home team and player popularity are the key stated reasons to support a team. The most loyal fan bases are in Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai, irrespective of their teams’ performance. The gap between the top and the bottom teams has further widened with the bottom team getting only 10% of the support versus the top team in this season. These variations in team popularity are likely to skew TV ratings. Though Virat Kohli has seen a surge in popularity, Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni remain the top players
• Online viewing:  38% claimed to have watched it online last year – out of which 22% claimed to have watched the online streaming at home. Clearly, for many viewers it was replacing the television at home. Over time we may see eyeballs getting split between television and online leading to drop in IPL TV ratings.
• Brand recall: Nokia, Pepsi and Coke are the only brands to maintain going -in recall vis-a-vis the previous season. Interestingly Nokia’s association is primarily with KKR and yet the brand is the most associated with IPL. DLF, the title sponsors are ranked 7^th in unaided recall.

On the subject of brand recall scores, T Gangadhar, Managing Director MEC India, said, “Clearly, not all brands seem to have used their sponsorship entitlements smartly. For a disproportionate return on investment, sponsorships need to be given wings via activation. Mere visibility can help a brand only to a limited extent”.

Elaborating on the techniques used to arrive at this study, Mr. Sunder Muthuraman, Managing Partner, Meritus Analytics, commented, “Memory is analogues to factors that will impact the outcome of a situation.  If one knows the factors (memory) well, forecasting the outcome is only a matter of deduction (technique).  The most important differentiator of the MEC IPL TV Rating Estimation Study is how ‘memory’ and ‘deduction’ have been brought to play by MEC and Meritus!”

MEC’s large sample customer survey that captures the ‘Memory’ of the viewers, their favourite team, is a key factor in the forecast. The large list of factors tested in the past and the new ones that have come along the way in four rounds of forecasts is the other ‘Memory’. 

The second most important factor is the Meritus expertise in various forecasting methods ranging from the simple ARIMA models to the more complex State-Space and Bayesian approaches and build learning forecasting models.

Mr. Sunder Muthuraman, further added “MEC and Meritus’ current forecast model suggests that a popular team will have an exponential ability to increase channel share (i.e. share among existing TV viewers), but has a smaller impact on PUT (people using TV, i.e. in bringing in new TV viewers when they are not already viewing TV).  This is very different from the relationships we noticed in our first forecast where the popularity of the team had similar impact on both channel share and PUT.  We have to put to good use our ‘memory’ and ‘technique’ to identify this changing reality on viewer behavior towards IPL and build it into our forecast model!”

Tina replaces Rakibul Hasan who moves to sister company Maxus.

The position is effective immediately and Tina will report directly to Stephen Li, CEO of MEC in Asia Pacific. As leader of MEC Bangladesh, Tina will lead the agency’s new business drive and will also develop the agency’s product offer.

Tina has almost a decade of experience in the media industry having worked at Mindshare, Unitrend and Sirius.  She has worked across clients such as Unilever, Coca Cola, Nestle, Jet, and Dabur.

Said Stephen Li, “Tina is a pioneer on the Bangladesh media scene, and her experience in the business, coupled with an in-depth understanding of data and analytics, means that she is the right person to take MEC Bangladesh to the next level of development.”

The appointment is effective immediately. Scott will report to Mason Franklin, Managing Director, Engagement Planning and be based in New York.

In his role, Scott will create connection strategies and ideas that influence perceptions and encourage engagement with the agency’s US clients.

Mason Franklin commented, “Scott brings great skill in identifying insights into why people think, feel and act the way that they do. He’s always digging deeper and searching for the ‘whys’ that are critical in developing smart strategies and ideas.”

“I couldn’t be more excited to join Mason and the Engagement Planning team. I look forward to helping develop great strategies that start with understanding the client’s core business model and extend all the way through marketing and ultimately, connection,” said Scott Schwartz.

Prior to joining the agency, Scott worked in the global strategy team at UM. There, he was lead strategist on both Exxon Mobil and ABInBev, and was in charge of optimizing consumer insights for these clients across multiple markets around the world. Before that, he oversaw a team of media buyers for a variety of the agency’s Sony divisions including Theatrical, Home Entertainment, Electronics and Music.

Scott holds a BBA and MBA from Emory University. He currently resides in Manhattan.

Scott is the latest new senior hire at MEC in North America. So far in 2012, this month Sharona Sankar-King joined as Senior Partner, Director, Analytics and Insight. Jen Soch was named Managing Partner, Account Director Global for MEC’s Citi client; Jennifer Lyons was appointed Senior Partner, Digital Planning Director; Dallia Herrtage transferred to New York from London as Communications Director on Marriott International and Kristian Baek-Mikkelsen transferred from Copenhagen to New York joining as Senior Partner, Engagement Planning