• by Wayne Friedman , April 16, 2008

A year-and-a-half after the end of Interpublic Media Group, its former chairman-CEO Mark Rosenthal has resurfaced at Spot Runner, the Internet-based ad services company backed by Interpublic, WPP and CBS.

Rosenthal will be president of media platforms and vice chairman of the company. He will develop new programs for media agencies and media companies using new technologies. In addition, he will oversee New York operations for the Los Angeles-headquartered company.

A maverick media agency, Spot Runner's initial focus had been on modestly sized marketers that may not have the resources to retain an ad agency to handle their TV advertising buys--especially in the areas of local broadcast and cable advertising.

Spot Runner's approach is to give marketers easy-to-create, automated planning, buying and creative execution--especially for emerging TV advertising platforms such as online video, video-on-demand and Internet Protocol Television.

The New York office now has about 10 employees, but Rosenthal said it will "size up and staff up over the next six months" as Spot Runner expands in new directions, although he did not elaborate. "We will do a lot of fun things," he promised.

At Interpublic, Rosenthal oversaw worldwide media operations, including Universal McCann, Initiative and Magna Global. At that time, he noted, "I got to know Spot Runner a little bit ... Spot Runner was adding tremendous value to the advertising process."

Prior to being MTV's president-COO for nearly a decade, Rosenthal had risen thought the ranks at its predecessor company Warner Amex Satellite Entertainment, which he joined in 1982.

"Spot Runner reminds me in a lot of ways of the early days of MTV," he says. "The executive team is top-notch and there's tremendous potential."

"With more than 20 years of experience in top positions at Interpublic and MTV Networks, two of the world's foremost advertising and media companies, he has the perfect background to understand and represent the interests and needs of both groups," said Nick Grouf, chairman and CEO of Spot Runner, in a statement.