• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, June 9, 2006

A mere three months after he bolted the food marketing giant to launch his own media engagement practice, former Masterfoods media exec Rob DeSena has joined WPP Group's Mediaedge:cia unit as managing partner and director of active engagement. The title, believed to be a first for a media shop, is taken from Mediaedge:cia's new "active engagement" tagline, which itself is a play for a leadership position on the concept of audience engagement that has transfixed the advertising business.

And it seems DeSena will have a significant portfolio within Mediaedge:cia to leverage that. All of the agencies strategic research, analytics, communications planning, and so-called ROI operations will report to him, including Mediaedge:cia's MediaLab, Ohal, Consumer Insights and Communications Planning groups.

DeSena who was traveling in Poland and not available for comment when the announcement was made late Thursday, will report to Mediaedge:cia Global Chairman Charles Courtier. It was also unclear what will happen with the Engagement Marketing Group, the consultancy he formed in early March after leaving Masterfoods as managing director of Mars Direct.

DeSena already has been an influential source in moving Madison Avenue in the direction of audience engagement research and insights. Among other things, he helped launch an ad industry initiative spawned during the Association of National Advertisers Accountability Forum last year, and he is a key member of MI4, the cross-industry task force that was formed to help define the meaning of engagement, and to make recommendations for how to research and apply it.

Mediaedge:cia's move comes as other media shops devote new resources to the subject, including Interpublic Media Group's new Consumer Experience Practice.