IgnitionOne Appoints John Ragals COO, Pushes Tech Efforts

Fresh off the management-led buyout from Dentsu, IgnitionOne has appointed John Ragals global COO to leverage his expertise in agency relationships and technology strategies. The company plans to announce the news Thursday.

Ragals, the former 360i COO, and most recently chief of network development for Dentsu Network, will initially gain a better understanding of each technology product and how they roll into the digital marketing suite. "Not many marketers grasp what we do to improve cross-channel attribution and marketing," he said. "My role will be to structure the message and deliver on the technology."

For starters, Ragals will strengthen IgnitionOne's organizational structure to combine personnel and processes that drive growth and globalization for companies like Avis, BMW, Fiat and Sands Las Vegas. It's part of the separation strategy from Dentsu, which gave IgnitionOne and Netmining their independence.

While former sister company 360i stayed with Dentsu, IgnitionOne now has the freedom from artificial restraints to work directly with clients, as well as agencies like Omnicom, Publicis, WPP and others.

Ragals said IgnitionOne's operations are strong, but people and technology are spread out around the world, which requires a bit more organizational skills. The company's model also continues to change.

IgnitionOne, originally created as a search agency, slowly expanded into analytics through the acquisition of Netmining. Now, the company also supports attribution, social, mobile, and display. Its media procurement technology stack competes with Google, Adobe Systems and MediaMath.

Last week, IgnitionOne appointed Simon Haynes as U.K. managing director. He was instrumental in reshaping Digilant Media's (previously Adnetik) European operations as managing director.

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