• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, April 11, 2012

Ever since WPP Group formalized the structure of its new media operating division, Tenth Avenue, I’ve wondered exactly what one of its core assets, Spafax Networks, actually is. I knew it is an expert in out-of-home media, but so is sister agency Kinetic Worldwide.

During a panel at MediaPost’s Digital OOH Forum in New York, Spafax Executive Vice President Patrick Bonomo shed some light on how Spafax is positioned, but it also raised a lot of new questions for me.

Bonomo described Spafax as an “inventory owner, purchaser and warehouse.” In other words, it sounds like it’s playing all sides of the out-of-home marketplace. Which means it’s not classically an ad agency either – at least not in the sense that Kinetic is.

Bonomo teased attendees with a few more tidbits about Spafax’s structure and designs, noting that a big part of what it does is data-driven. In particular, in using data to create measurement and accountability for out-of-home media.

“If we don’t have that, you’re not going to be able to fight for the dollars allocated,” he said.