• by August 11, 2004

The headline on the release appeared to indicate one thing, while the "news," or lack thereof, left a palpable question mark (again). Well, at least for this reader who has attempted to track the machinations, purpose, and activities of Time Warner's Global Marketing Solutions, which for the past four years has been known as the "Global Marketing Group."

This observer is still scratching her head.

I'm referring to an over-the-transom press release that was released yesterday from Time Warner with the headline: "Time Warner's Global Marketing Group To Be Restructured, Mark D'Arcy Named Chief Creative Officer."

This is something that's been rumbling in the wind for more than a year. Is there something dramatic going on? Is it an overhaul? Mike Kelly, the former Time Inc. exec who headed the unit for a year, was tapped in January by Time Warner and America Online honchos to help turn AOL's faltering interactive marketing and sales group into a real media sales company. (We await the progress on that front, and are assured that all the structural elements are in place).

After Kelly's departure, the leadership of the cross-divisional Global Marketing Group, a team of some 40 people (really, 40?) with marketing, research, and programming skills charged with devising customized marketing and ad programs involving multiple Time Warner divisions, was vacant for several months. That is, until the talented John Partilla, a former Y&R and Brand Buzz exec, took the reins in May. John is the quintessential "nice guy" and positive client service/team leader, and all around master of diplomacy. The GMG is charged with providing strategic resources and research to individual divisions. At one point, it was known as the marketing company within Time Warner; its days as a deal-oriented body are, of course, over.

The appointment of Mark D'Arcy, who guided Sony Electronics at Y&R (just one of several accounts he worked on) through several iterations of its creative strategy, may speak volumes for the purpose the GMG will serve in the future. In addition to being Partilla's friend, D'Arcy was also named a Time Warner senior vice president and will likely be at the very front of the in-stream broadband video revolution that's underway at AOL. That revolution has implications for all of Time Warner, and the company needs all the creative prowess it can get-for advertisers, and for its programming. Never before has there been such a need for a creative resource within the media giant, which is sitting on a gold mine of opportunity if it can figure out how to creatively shepherd its resources. And therein lies the rub.

D'Arcy should be a good asset.

But apart from the appointment, it was murky as to just what kind of restructuring was underway. The "restructuring" was described as a merging of sales and marketing functions within the GMG.

Huh?