• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, March 15, 2012

Media shop Mindshare, a unit of WPP’s GroupM, has been awarded media responsibilities for Rent-A-Center in the continental U.S. and Puerto Rico, the client and agency confirmed today.

The client spent over $30 million on ads in 2011, according to Kantar Media. 

The assignment includes media planning and buying responsibilities for traditional broadcast TV and radio. In addition, the client will utilize the corporate trading services of GroupM’s The Midas Exchange (TMEX). Like other trading operations, TMEX works with clients to exchange unsold goods and services, or other assets, for ad time.

GroupM formed its TMEX in 2010, when the recessionary climate heightened demand for such services.

The Rent-A-Center win followed a four-month review. The review included the incumbents, Omnicom’s OMD and sister corporate trading operation Icon International. OMD handled the account beginning in 2007. At the time, Aegis Group’s Carat was the incumbent. Other contenders in the  just-concluded review could not be immediately determined.  

Commenting on the selection, Rent-A-Center CMO Ann Davids stated that Mindshare was chosen for its "superior ability to develop and execute a full-service broadcast media strategy that will create increased awareness for our brand.” 

The assignment will be handled by Mindshare’s New York office, which begins work immediately.

Rent-A-Center, based in Plano, Texas, offers customers name-brand furniture, electronics, appliances and computers through flexible rental purchase agreements. Last year, the company reported annual revenues of nearly $3 billion with net profits of $165 million.