• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, September 15, 2008

Interpublic's fledging Mediabrands unit is following other big agency holding company media operations into the venture capital business. During a pitch to ad industry management consultants scheduled for this morning in New York, Mediabrands chief Nick Brien will officially unveil plans for a new venture capital fund aimed at acquiring early stakes in promising ventures in media and marketing services, especially ones that have unique business models or proprietary technologies. The move follows similar venture development initiatives by Interpublic rivals WPP Group's GroupM and Publicis.

But unlike the focus of other agency holding companies, or the venture deals Interpublic has made prior to the formation of the new Mediabrands Venture Fund, the capital investments won't necessarily be made as a means to an end for Interpublic's clients, but also as a way of diversifying Interpublic's business portfolio.

"The venture fund's mission is to encourage and recognize innovation and to provide employees with investment and a chance to develop groundbreaking ideas and subsequently transform them into successful ventures that differentiate our family of brands and our products," explained Joe Benarroch-vice president-corporate affairs at Mediabrands.

Benarroch said the fund would focus on "new business models, new types of media and marketing services, new media and marketing related technology" and that the Mediabrands management team would select up to three ideas annually for up to six months of funding. The venture leads can be generated by any of Interpublic's 6,500 media employees, and could come from within any of its operating divisions, including Initiative, Universal McCann, and Magna.

While the new Mediabrands fund appears to have a more formal structure than the venture activity conducted to date among Madison Avenue's big media operations, it follows a path that has accelerated in recent years at WPP, Publicis and even within Interpublic. Earlier promising venture stakes acquired by Interpublic include positions in both Facebook.com and Spot Runner, both of which have paid dividends in intellectual capital, if not yet monetary capital.

WPP and Publicis, meanwhile, have also been stepping up their venture activity, but with differing capital strategies. WPP's GroupM unit has been putting cash on the barrel to make strategic investments to help fund ventures that could give it and its clients a competitive advantage in new media enterprises that could alter the business. Recently, WPP made a sizeable investment in Invidi Technologies, a company that is developing an infrastructure for addressable TV advertising that has already begun rolling out on Comcast cable TV systems. GroupM chief Irwin Gotlieb was also named a member of the Invidi board.

Publicis, meanwhile, has taken a different route, preferring to exchange its intellectual capital for small stakes in promising new media technologies. Most of that activity has been channeled through Tim Hanlon, executive vice president-ventures, at Publicis' futures unit Denuo.