Publicis Retires Mediavest Brand, Which Helped Usher In Unbundled Era

by Larissa Faw , July 6, 2017

Publicis Media is retiring its well-known Mediavest brand, which handled some of the biggest media accounts in the U.S., including Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola and Kraft Heinz, for nearly 20 years.

It was established in 1999 when DMB&B merged its planning department with its existing broadcast operations unit known as TeleVest to create MediaVest, one of the first unbundled, full-service media agencies in the U.S.

Mediavest and sibling media shop Spark merged in 2016 -- part of a broad corporate restructuring at Publicis Group -- to create Mediavest | Spark. That entity is now being renamed Spark Foundry.

The rebranding is designed to better reflect the company's expansion beyond media to include analytics, technology and innovation, insights, content and commerce.

According to the agency, the new Foundry moniker was selected due to its broader meaning as a specially equipped place where raw materials are heated and forged to make things.

“Spark Foundry’s unique vision brings a palpable energy that is proven to drive results for our clients,” stated Publicis Media CEO Steve King.

Added Spark Foundry U.S. CEO Chris Boothe: “Today, by unveiling Spark Foundry, we’re continuing to evolve our brand to meet marketplace needs. By extending our startup spirit and powerhouse soul across the globe and simplifying our name, we’re sharing the heat that has fueled our growth for the past five years.”

Since coming together as Mediavest | Spark in March 2016, the agency has won a number of new clients, including BEL Groupe (Global), MTV, KFC, Mattel, H&R Block (USA), Expedia (SEA), EuroLoan (Poland), Virgin Mobile (MENA), OnePlus (UK) and Diageo (Australia). It also recently lost Sprint.

agency, branding, media

5 comments about "Publicis Retires Mediavest Brand, Which Helped Usher In Unbundled Era".

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Walter Sabo from SABO media, July 7, 2017 at 9:31 a.m.
Thank goodness. We all hated Mediavest. All sellers had to be extra nice to them but we hated them.
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Larissa Faw from Mediapost, July 7, 2017 at 10:56 a.m.

Watch what you say Walter, I bet in a few years (or months) they will resurrect Mediavest to honor their heritage and history. After all, at some point, they will run out of name options.

Michael Hubbard from Media Two Interactive replied, July 7, 2017 at 11:19 a.m.

That's really funny... So the changing of the name is going to make them nicer :) Maybe they should consider "Nice Spark", or "Sparkling Personalities" or something to really throw people off!

On a serious note - I run a media buying agency, and although we talk about the sell side as being our partners and all need to be treated with respect, I know that if we say "no" - we're deemed not nice either. So for my own benefit, I'd love to know what makes them the evil empire... And if it's not fit for writing, happy to have a phone call if you're up for it? Again, just a little market research for my self and better managing our own media buying relationships.

Aarona Jordan from CBS Digital, July 10, 2017 at 11:19 a.m.

Hilarious! This thread reads like a SELLERCROWD post. I actually have very fond memories of Mediavest where I was the lead seller for MTV for many years-I found the buyers to be smart, hard-working and while demanding,open-minded. @Michael Hubbard- wonderful of you to ask, the main reason I find buyers/buying shops get a bad reputation is from callous and disrespectful regard of their sales partners. Everyone is BUSY- it takes two minutes to respond to someone who has called/emailed you to decline an opportunity. If you can instruct your staff to respect that sellers have very difficult and stressful jobs- a ittle professional courtesy will go a long way to ensure you have the best service-sooner or later the salesperson they ignored may have something your client needs at a price we can choose to give or not. Great day all!!

Michael Hubbard from Media Two Interactive replied, July 10, 2017 at 11:33 a.m.

So I just had an interesting conversation with someone regarding email, and I had never thought of it like that. On any given day, I get 1,000 to 3,000 emails per day. While I try and respond to most, it's just not physically possible or my entire day would be spent giving "courtesy" emails. A colleaque explained to me - most sales reps now set up mass emails, so while it only takes them minutes to email thousands of contacts, it is physically impossible for the people on the receiving end to keep up. Think about it - let's assume I respond to 10% of the emails I get (the rest are spam, FB notifications, etc), and it's a light day (1,000 emails). That means I have 100 emails to politely respond to. Even if it only takes me 2 minutes, that's just over 3 hours of my day responding to emails! But if I don't - I will get labeled as unprofessional... So I'm in a lose-lose situation. That said - if a sales rep takes the time to call me, and sends me an email - then I will always respond, as I feel like they've put a little bit of effort into it. Heck, if they've taken the time to read our website and inquire about specific clients or points of view from our blog - it generally elevates to the top of the list. So again, I like hearing people's perspective on agencies - and in this case, I think I need to create more transparency around what it takes to garner a response - as most people have no idea how many emails they're competing with. If one goes unanswered - it's might just be because their isn't an immediate need, and there are 3,000 others that came in just like it. Hope that makes sense and doesn't come off wrong. I like gettting the emails and knowing about the opportunities - but I just can't physically answer them all.