• by David Kaplan , September 13, 2004

Scott Tegethoff, a 15-year media professional, has been tapped by Interpublic Group's Universal-McCann (UM) to serve in the newly-created position of executive vice president - global account director for the agency's estimated $300 million L'Oreal account.

The hiring of Tegethoff, who has also been named as a member of the UM Worldwide Board, is in response to the increasing growth and complexity of the L'Oreal assignments, which currently span over 80 countries around the world, a UM rep said. His initial focus will be on the U.S. market. Previously, he was executive vice president - communications planning director at Starcom/MediaVest, with responsibility for the Procter & Gamble business.

In announcing Tegethoff's coming on board, Robin Kent, UM's chief executive, said: "Scott is one of the most creative media people in the business and his focus at UM will be on finding new and dynamic ways to use media to make consumer connections on behalf of L'Oreal. With the strong media platform we've created for the L'Oreal brands as a base, we've asked him to literally help reinvent the way we look at and think about media opportunities."

For the past 15 years Tegethoff has been with the Publicis Groupe's media operations, beginning his career with Starcom (when it was under the Leo Burnett agency) in 1988 where he worked on such brands as Philip Morris, Procter & Gamble, Kraft, Allstate, and Maytag. From 1997 to 2003 he was with Saatchi & Saatchi as executive vice president, global strategic communications director with responsibility for Procter & Gamble brands in the United States, Latin America, Europe, and Asia, and in 2003 he assumed his most recent post as executive vice president, communications planning director, with responsibility for the media planning for such iconic Procter & Gamble brands as Tide, Pampers, Charmin, Swiffer, and Folgers.