• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, December 9, 2008

Aegis Media, which a couple of years ago fused the interactive services of its Carat Fusion unit into its full service Carat media network, is once again reorganizing at least some aspects of its formidable digital operations. Details of the reorganization would not be confirmed at presstime, but at least one European publication, Brand Republic, reported that Aegis's Isobar unit may be preparing to launch a new full-service digital agency early next year, headed by former Naked Communications Managing Parker Niku Banaie.

Brand Republic implied the new unit would be utilize Isobar as a "client-facing" brand, but an Aegis insider said it is more of a reorganization of internal resources than the creation of a new, standalone agency.

Such a spin-off would raise questions about the logic of Aegis original integration of Carat and Carat Fusion, the whole point of which was that digital media has evolved to the point that it should be managed as an integrated whole, not as a disparate practice.

It's "more a hub to leverage all agency resources for digital work," the insider said of the new organization.

Isobar, which is the world's largest digital advertising services network by a wide margin, according to RECMA tracking figures, to date, has been more of a corporate holding company for an array of digital marketing services brands.

The reorganization comes amid other changes within Aegis, including a recent shake-up of its top management team, and some recent high-level management and client defections, not to mention renewed talk of a takeover or a merger with another advertising holding company.

Vincent Bollore, the chairman of rival Havas, and the single largest shareholder in Aegis, has been making noise again about the logic of combining the two companies.