• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, February 8, 2012

Accordant Media, a New York-based ad technology firm specializing in creating “white labeled” trading desks for long-, mid-tail, and big independent agencies not affiliated with the major agency holding companies, has marked an important milestone -- serving its 3,000th campaign -- and named two key executives to its team this week.

While Accordant wasn’t able to put that number into the context of the overall marketplace it serves -- independent agencies and advertisers who use trading desks to execute online display campaigns in the so-called “real-time bidding” marketplace sold by third-party intermediaries such as ad networks and exchanges -- it said the number represented “fully managed” campaigns and represented a critical mass for Accordant as a player in an industry that is perceived as being dominated by the big agency holding companies, and so-called demand- and sell-side platforms.

“We think that this is significant as the leading independent -- non-holding company -- trading desk,” said Art Muldoon, co-founder and CEO. He said it is especially significant because the trading volume proves that Accordant is overcoming key obstacles for agencies and marketers seeking to buy “biddable” online ad inventory, which should help accelerate that overall marketplace in 2012.

“Our longer-term clients are growing their RTB budgets four times to six times this year,” he said, noting that Accordant’s roster currently includes independent agencies such as Lbi, Media Experts, BeebyClarkMeyler and Red Bricks Media.

Muldoon said he could not disclose all of Accordant’s clients, but said they also include a “roster of direct marketers.”

He said the appeal of Accordant is its simplicity and the fact that it enables independent players to scale their exchange-based media buys across display, video and mobile channels with the same resources of Madison Avenue’s biggest players.

To help spread that word and accelerate its adoption across the buy-side of the industry, Accordant also named two key rainmakers to its team, Garret Vreeland, and Chris Cloney, who will serve as Chief Revenue Officer and vice president-sales, respectively.

A long-time digital ad industry vet, Vreeland most recently was senior director-advertising sales and account management at Akamai, and previously had top sales roles at Right Media/Yahoo and 24/7 Real Media.

Cloney joins from stints at MediaMind and the Bluestreak division of Aegis Media.