• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, September 23, 2013

For years media agencies pushed themselves away from creatives at advertising agencies. No longer is that a positive.

“I happy that we are sitting closer with creatives,” says Christine Merrifield, president of investment and activation of MediaVest USA, in speaking an an online video panel at OMMA Global. “Years ago we broke away from creative. We need to understand all the creative aspects.”

Merrifield says the creative piece continues to be a “challenge" with all the creative executions to consider. Not only that but there are other issues. For example, online video marketers' individual messaging continues to grow -- 5 seconds, 15 seconds, and now 30 seconds.

“Our consumers are always ahead of us,” she says. “If they didn’t want a 30-second spot in their video, we’d be hearing more from them.”