• by Joe Mandese , April 23, 2010

It may be the lingering effects of the global economic recession, and the fact that so many marketers have vast unsold inventories that they can use to trade for media time and space, but this morning, WPP's GroupM unit announced it is stepping up its efforts in the so-called "barter media" sector with a new media planning and buying entity dubbed, "The Midas Exchange."

The move comes a little more than a year after Interpublic re-launched its barter media initiatives under a new entity called Orion Trading for precisely that same reason, and it appears that Madison Avenue is once again focused on the art and science of turning damaged goods into good media buys.

Of course, agencies and their clients don't like referring to their excess, unsold products and services as damaged goods (WPP's announcement refers to them as "underperforming assets"), but barter, or "reciprocal trade" has always been a significant part of the media-buying business. Typically, though, it has been behind-the-scenes at major shops, and has been more visible among independent agencies specializing in the practice, such as Active International and Icon International. And some media content companies, such as Turner Broadcasting, also maintain operations to trade some of their unsold inventories.

Typically, the way a barter media deal works, is that a marketer liquidates some unsold goods or services either directly or indirectly in exchange for media credits. Usually, the barter portion is only part of the media deal, with cash accounting for the rest.

WPP said The Midas Exchange will initially operate in the U.S., and that it was formed at the request of its clients. It will be managed as part of GroupM, and will be headed by Kathy Kladopoulos, who has been named president the unit. Most recently Kladopoulos worked as executive vice president and managing director of Carat Trade, a division of Aegis Group, which she launched nine years ago.

WPP's high profile leap into the barter media field is interesting, because the holding company has a mixed history in the practice. J. Walter Thompson, before it was acquired by WPP, has one of the most famous scandals in the history of barter media, when during the 1980s, the head of the agency's barter syndication unit was found to be billing clients for millions of dollars in TV advertising credits that never actually aired.