• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, July 9, 2009

KSL Media this morning announced a reorganization of its television buying department in an effort to make it more focused on a direct response model. The agency dubbed the approach, "hybrid buying," and named local broadcast chief Susan Gershon executive vice president-director of operations, with responsibility for overseeing the group's systems. Gershon had been vice president-local broadcast.

KSL, which is one of the largest independent media services agencies not affiliated with one of the major agency holding companies, has been emphasizing performance and ROI based models over the past several years, and prides itself on integrating its planning and buying systems with performance data.

KSL's hybrid push appears to have an economic rationale, because direct response media typically costs significantly less than typical advertising inventory.

"Hybrid Buying combines the targeting of television buying with the responsiveness and pricing of Direct Response buying," stated CEO Hank Cohen, adding, ""In doing this, we can always be assured that we are getting the best possible pricing for our clients, so they can get more bang for their buck in this competitive economy."

As part of the TV department reorganization, KSL named media buyer Liz Kelly vice president-director of direct response buying and local hybrid broadcast buying, and promoted Marcia Listo to associate director of hybrid broadcast buying operations in its New York office, and promoted Robin Piersol the same position in its Los Angeles office.

Sandy Dibble was also promoted to associate director of direct response buying operations in the Los Angeles office.