• by April 17, 2008

North American CEO Scott Neslund stressed that the company's change into a full-service marketing agency is "very much a MindShare-only" reinvention plan--not involving other units of GroupM, WPP Group's media agency holding company. MindShare will continue to work with the Group, he says, such as when the group recently announced local broadcast operations.

MindShare's restructuring--six months in the making--involved a complete reexamination of "what we were doing with clients," Neslund said. He listed three key client benefits of the new agency framework:

• a more streamlined process of working with agency services
• the weaving of digital resources throughout the entire organization

• stronger, more creative media work.

Acknowledging that all media planning/buying agencies have been changing to some extent, Neslund said he believes MindShare has implemented the "largest sweeping changes in the industry," and that those changes "will energize the next generation of media and marketing specialists."

MindShare has a history of shaking up the ad agency business.

The current restructuring is the first for the company since its 1997 launch, which was formed through the merger of the former media departments of JWT and O&M. MindShare quickly became the largest of the new breed of media-only agencies.

The company's structural changeover is expected to be completed in its 97 offices in 67 countries by year's end. In the U.S., according to the latest RECMA rankings, MindShare ranked No. 1 among media agencies in the U.S., with $11.3 billion in billings during 2006.

Who's Who at the New MindShare

Titles have yet to change, but MediaPost has obtained a list of the leaders at the three non-client-specific areas of the new MindShare:

Business Planning

Bart Flaherty, CEO, GroupM Business Science

Karen Kaufman, formerly North American director, Advanced Techniques Group

Tata Sato, formerly group director of MindShare Insights

Tim Elton, director of communication planning

Invention

Margaret Clerkin, formerly CEO, North America, MindShare Interaction

David Lang, formerly president, MindShare Entertainment

Shari Cohen, president, co-executive director, national broadcast

The Exchange

Jason Maltby, president, co-executive director, national broadcast

Andy Chapman, formerly managing director, MindShare Interaction