• by Wayne Friedman , July 26, 2010

Media agency holding company IPG is resurrecting brand name MagnaGlobal for its media negotiation and forecasting unit.

Previously, the group was called Magna, part of IPG's Mediabrands division. The new name will be reflective across all U.S. and international businesses providing forecasts and negotiation strategy for all its agency brands -- Initiative, UM, Hill Holliday, Deutsch, Mullen, for example --- on behalf of their global clients.

The negotiation group originally started up as Magna Global Worldwide in July 2002, run by Bill Cella, who was its chairman and CEO.

Magna Global started as a U.S. national television negotiation unit. Its name subsequently evolved into just Magna. In 2009, Magna expanded into local TV, national radio and print and digital in the U.S., as well as U.S. and global forecasting services.

"We have worked this past year to create a strong foundation and structure to fulfill our global clients' buying needs -- that is our priority," said Elizabeth Herbst-Brady, president of Magna Global, who started up with the media agency division in September 2008.

"We are taking the next few months to go market by market to localize our brand proposition. This will enable us to support all of our clients worldwide and deliver consistent results on a pan-regional and global level."

Also in September 2008, IPG disbanded the Magna Global Entertainment group, which began in 2001 and produced "The Restaurant" on NBC and the "Johnson & Johnson Spotlight Presentation" series of TNT movies for its clients. Mediabrands then started up another TV/branded entertainment unit called Ensemble in July 2009.

IPG also eliminated another Magna Global name in 2009, its barter media division Magna Global Trading, which was renamed Orion Trading.