• by July 13, 2004

MEDIACOM-COM-COM, GOING? - Why has Jon Mandel been spotted uncharacteristically wearing a suit each day for the past three weeks up at MediaCom's New York headquarters? And what, if anything, does that have to do with a "restructuring" of the Grey Worldwide media services agency that the Riff is hearing about? And just why is the media shop restructuring at a time when so many key developments seem to be afoot, including its make-or-break pitch for Procter & Gamble's global communication planning account, the sale of its parent company Grey Worldwide, and the imminent re-positioning of its media services brand? Plenty of good questions, but the Riff is ashamed to acknowledge that despite our best efforts, we have a paucity of answers about what exactly is transpiring up at 777 Third Avenue.

What we do know, is that the agency's recently installed communications director Shira Kallus, who was hand-picked by MediaCom chief marketing officer Jim Porcarelli, called us Monday to say she was leaving the shop. "The company's been restructured and they've eliminated my position," is all she would say, referring all other questions to Porcarelli. Porcarelli, who declined to comment, according to MediaCom Marketing Coordinator Vanessa Irving. "He's too busy," she said. Asked to elaborate, she demurred, "I really don't know what's going on. You need to talk to Jim." Okay.

Left to our own resources, the Riff did what it does best: make a lot of phone calls. What we learned is that a number of MediaCom-ers also appear to be in the dark, but there seems to be no lack of speculation, with rumors ranging from Mandel staging a palace coup that ousted MediaCom CEO Dene Callas to Mandel taking a bigger position at parent Grey, to Mandel leaving the shop altogether. Clearly, the suit has nothing to do with P&G's pitch. Otherwise he'd be wearing it in Cincinnati, not New York.

So what does all this say about MediaCom's new branding effort, which is built around the theme: "People First. Better Results." It's not clear, the Riff had been expecting to be briefed by MediaCom on its new branding strategy, which we first reported on June 24, but the whole thing appears to have been put on hold.