• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, January 7, 2004

In the wake of its loss of its flagship Coca-Cola Co. media buying account, and the departure of several high-profile executives, Universal McCann is reorganizing key operations, including marketing and new business development, as well as its research and so-called Media Futures department. It also appears to be downplaying its fledgling creative services operations, a concept it pioneered with much fanfare last year when it hired Alan Schulman to serve as creative director. At the time, Universal touted the position as a first-of-its-kind for a major media agency and said it would transform the way media shops execute media strategies and work with creative agencies. But MediaDailyNews has learned Schulman is leaving Universal and the agency has no plans to replace him.

Schulman's move follows a series of other notable departures, including the Jon Swallen, a well-regarded media researcher who headed Universal's Media Futures department, as well as Steve Hantzarides, who was hired late last year as Universal's marketing director, a position that also was billed as a first-of-its-kind for a media agency.

Universal Chairman-CEO Robin Kent said the agency likely would fill that marketing role, but would do it through reorganization or its marketing and new business development operations. He said that transition should be completed in several weeks.

As for Universal's creative operations, Kent said Schulman would remain an exclusive consultant to Universal and would continue to service clients on an out-source basis. He also downplayed the function of a creative director at a media agency, saying that it was more of an internal resource to serve as a liaison between media executives and the creative personnel at brand agencies they work with.

Schulman could not be reached for comment, but the revised view of the creative role represents a change from what Universal was touting a year ago, when Kent stated that Schulman's appointment "signifies the evolution of the communications landscape, and our role within it."

Meanwhile, Kent said some of Schulman's work with new media platforms such as TiVo has been reassigned to David Cohen, interactive media director for Universal McCann Interactive. He said Cohen also was assuming some of the "media futures" work spearheaded by Swallen and that much of Swallen's other duties - especially his work on media marketplace modeling - were being picked up by Andrew Sharp, who in September was named executive vice president, director of communications accountability in Universal's London office.

Kent denied that any of the personnel moves were related to budget cuts necessitated by the loss of the Coca-Cola Co. business. In fact, he said the agencies concurrent win of new media planning assignments from Johnson & Johnson more than offset any loss in earnings.

"We did some adjusting, because Coke was TV buying, buy in large, and Johnson & Johnson is mostly planning. But on a net basis, we came out ahead," said Kent.