• by Tameka Kee , May 14, 2007

By appointing Tarik Sedky to head up its as-yet-unnamed digital division, Y&R has taken a very public step toward meeting the interactive advertising needs of clients like Ford and DANONE.

"We are quickly expanding digital as a core agency discipline," said Hamish McLennan, Y&R's global CEO. "And Tarik brings the right combination of talent and experience to grow our digital offering."

Although he most recently held roles with interactive agencies--as head of new media at Accenture and managing director, account management, at Atmosphere BBDO--Sedky also has years of traditional advertising experience. And he is quite familiar with how Y&R operates, having served as a senior vice president at the agency for five years. This wide range of knowledge will help him lead and galvanize some 250 global employees working on Y&R's digital projects.

The new division will focus on interactive ad strategy and creative, partnering with fellow WPP companies or client-chosen planning/buying agencies for the development of rich media tools and applications, as well as online planning, buying, and analytics.

Following Y&R's naming of Mitch Caplan as North American CMO, new business, the agency seems to be building a senior management team that possesses results-oriented experience with global clients across both traditional and interactive spaces. During Caplan's tenure at The Kaplan Thaler Group, that agency won accounts such as Office Depot and Revlon. Meanwhile, Sedky led the efforts to turn Accenture's Web site into a revenue-generating tool.

While the new digital division will bear the Y&R brand, it will serve as an embedded agency hybrid--retaining its own clients and strategies, but working with Y&R's established resources, tools and reputation.