Avenue A/Razorfish Names Kokich President

Online ad agency Avenue A/Razorfish has promoted Clark Kokich to the newly created position of worldwide president, the company said Monday. Kokich, previously president of Avenue A/Razorfish's west region, now will oversee operations of 11 U.S. offices.

The move, which was implemented internally several weeks ago, is the culmination of the integration of Avenue A and Razorfish. Kokich comes from the Avenue A side of the company, which was formed when aQuantive purchased New York's SBI Razorfish for $160 million in July 2004.

Kokich said his priorities include beefing up the agency's efforts in emerging media--especially Video on Demand and Internet Protocol TV. "Companies know that television is not working the same way it has been, and they're looking for solutions," he said. "TV as a digital medium starts to look a whole lot like the Internet."

The agency currently is making "key hires," Kokich said, and has tapped some people from its other core areas--online advertising, search, Web site development, and e-mail--to work on emerging media.

Kokich said his other major push will involve making acquisitions or forming partnerships abroad, with Europe as the first priority and Asia as the second.

Before taking over as president of the West region, Kokich served as president of Avenue A's Seattle and Chicago offices for three years. Prior to joining Avenue A, Kokich worked at various companies including apparel retailer Calla Bay, where he was president and CEO; and AT&T Wireless Services, where he was director of sales and marketing.

Bob Lord will continue as president of the East region and Dave Friedman continues in his role as president of the Central region; Kokich's replacement as president of the West region hasn't yet been named.

Avenue A/Razorfish contributed $87.4 million of aQuantive's $142.2 million in revenue during the first half of 2005. Clients include Ford Motor Company, for which the agency recently redesigned the Web site www.ford.com; hotels.com, a subsidiary of Barry Diller's IAC/InterActiveCorp; and Carnival Cruise Lines.

Recently, the company suffered a blow when longtime client Microsoft/MSN decided to shift online media buying to Universal McCann. Avenue A/Razorfish continues to handle other duties--including Web development, creative and analytics--for MSN.

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