• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, August 5, 2005

ZenithOptimedia is the latest New York-based media agency to go west and wacky for those important, ground-breaking, branded entertainment connections.

The Firm's Rich Frank, who helped Zenith's client Toyota Motor Sales into what turned out to be a less-than-spectacular deal for Mark Burnett's "The Contender" earlier this season, will now, as a consultant, get to represent all of Zenith's clients, including General Mills, Hewlett Packard, JPMorgan Chase, Lexus, L'Oreal, Nestle, Scion, and Verizon Wireless.

Other agencies have taken the West Coast route as well, putting Alan Cohen at Initiative Media; Sunta Izzicupo at Magna Global; and Peter Tortorici at Mindshare.

Much of this stems from the true nature of their respective businesses that can't always find the connecting dots: Media agencies for their tough and exacting CPM and New York state of mind. Hollywood studios' for its way-too stylized deal-making.

And so you need people grounded and on the ground - not over the phone with a 212 or 917 area code.

But one wonders in this era of unpublished branded entertainment batting averages - some call it ROI - what the true value is of having this kind of personnel padding around the Four Seasons bar. My guess is probably not much better than having only New York-based executives working the phones. Perhaps those long four- and five-hour plane rides back to the East Coast give executives some pause. No doubt the 26,000-foot quality, first-class air is how Mindshare (pre-Tortorici), Sears Roebuck, ABC, and "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" producers, kept cool heads and put together a successful program.

Still, it's always nice to have - as John Travolta's Brooklyn-accented Tony Manero said in "Saturday Night Live" - some "stairway to the stars." The Firm, of course, represents all kind of actors and music artists - Cameron Diaz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Justin Timberlake, Jennifer Lopez, and bands Linkin Park and Weezer.

But don't look for Snoop Dogg to automatically be cruising in a Lexus or J.Lo to be washing her hair with L'Oreal. Nope. That's not how these deals are done. Frank will be there to represent Zenith's clients for the best possible deals - which, of course, may included The Firm's clients. Of course then the real work starts trying to get about a dozen lawyers -- representing artist, advertiser, network, media agency, talent agency, product placement agency, production company, and writer - all to agree.

How much time is involved? Apparently not much. "By next week, we'll have started sitting down with production companies, producers, writers, and others to try to find these integration opportunities," Frank told Daily Variety.

That sounds like a big group. Branded entertainment should be easier - like fitting it in into a sentence. Someone should call out for Starbucks and bagels.