• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, May 2, 2007

A marketing-consulting firm under WPP's aegis has been merged with Maxus, one of four media units within the holding company's GroupM media operations. Media Marketing Solutions, once part of Y&R, will meld its 30 employees with Maxus' New York office.

MMS clients include Vespa and Barnes & Noble. It also advises in other categories, such as beverages and spirits and health care. The firm's founder, Loretta Volpe, becomes Maxus' COO, reporting to president-CEO Carla Loffredo in the realignment.

Maxus represents clients such as Church & Dwight and T. Rowe Price. In the U.S., where its operations are only 2 years old, it has four offices. Most recently, the company opened an L.A outpost to service the maker of Palm Treo Smartphone worldwide.

GroupM North America CEO Marc Goldstein said the combination "bolsters Maxus' role both nationally and globally." GroupM is sort of a holding company within a holding company, overseeing WPP's four media networks: Mediacom, Mediaedge:cia, MindShare and Maxus. Among other functions, GroupM does joint buying for the four units domestically, including in the network and cable upfronts.

Bought by Y&R in 1999, 12-year-old MMS joined WPP when the holding company acquired the agency network a year later.