The Interpublic Group reported a 2012 revenue total of $6.96 billion, down 0.8% with net income down 16% to $464.6 million. Organic revenue growth for the year was 0.7%. Fourth quarter revenue was $2.06 billion, down 0.4% with net income of $337.1 million, up 21%. Organic growth for the quarter was 0.4%. Of the holding companies reporting full year results so far IPG's organic growth is lowest for both the full year and fourth quarter. By comparison Havas last week reported 2012 organic growth of 2.1% and just over 1% for the fourth quarter. Earlier Omnicom said its 2012 organic …

Piaggio USA is hiring. If you think that's a boxer whose first name is Manny don't apply. If you can't do digital strategy, go home.

Agency holding company MDC Partners reported a 16% revenue gain in the fourth quarter of 2012 to nearly $295 million. Organic revenue growth for the period was almost 12%. For the full year, revenue was up 14% to $1.07 billion, while organic growth was up 8.4%. The company's Q4 and full year organic growth rates are highest among holding companies reporting results for those periods so far, albeit from a lower revenue base. The company reported net new business wins accounting for $137 million in revenue for the year. The company had a net loss for the year of more …

Dow Jones just announced CEO Lex Fenwick can now be followed on Twitter @lexfenwick. The announcement, ironically, was made via email.

With the launch of Facebook Exchange (FBX) last year, Facebook began allowing marketers to target audiences on the social network based on their browsing activity on the wider Web. Since formally launching in September, the real-time bidding platform has attracted 1,300 advertisers and is now processing over 1 billion impressions per day. Facebook and its ad partners have reported promising early results from FBX campaigns. The optimism surrounding the new platform has given rise to the question of whether marketers should shift their retargeting spending entirely to FBX. To test that idea, AdRoll, which has over 700 advertisers running on …

Advertisers continue to stir the pot for more family-oriented TV programming. The Association of National Advertiser's Alliance for Family Entertainment (AFE), a group of 40 national advertisers, are joining up with Overbrook Entertainment, co-founded by actor Will Smith and film producer James Lassiter, to start up a new scriptwriting contest to find new family-focused TV programming. The contest includes scripts for one-hour dramasand 30-minute comedies. Winners will receive $5,000, a meeting with Overbrook and the opportunity to have their script developed.   The AFE had fostered a number of family shows for …

Samsung surged ahead of Apple last year to become the largest maker of smart connect devices—PCs, portable PCs, tablets and smartphones, according to new data from IDC. The South Korean manufacturer shipped 250 million units across the four device categories in 2012, up 119% from 2011, giving it a 20.8% share. Apple increased unit shipments 44% to 218.7 million, for an 18.2% share, followed by Lenovo, which shipped 78.3 million devices, for a 6.5% share. Rounding out the top five, HP shipments fell 8.5% to 58.2 million, reducing its share to 4.8%, while Dell shipments dropped almost 13% to …

Digital out-of-home network enVu has named Jim Farrell executive vice president-sales for its "gestural" interactive advertising network. He joins from vice president-sales at ABC' s Regional Sports and Entertainment Group, where he oversaw sales for its DOOH networks including digital signage in Times Square, the McDonald's Channel, CMT Taxi Network, the 7-11 Network, Ski TV, and the Digital Outdoor Network.

In connection with Twitter opening up its Ads API today, launch partner Adobe released results from a trial campaign for its own Marketing Cloud platform. Testing the Promoted Accounts API specifically over several weeks, the company saw the following --By using granular targeting, testing different bid levels and segmenting campaigns by regions, Adobe was able to increase the follower base (number of followers on Twitter) by 63%. --The total Cost Per Follow (CPF) decreased by close to 60% or approximately $2.00. --Prior to the campaign Adobe had organic growth at around two dozen followers per day. With Promoted Accounts, it …

Los Angeles-based movie and TV studio Lionsgate has selected WPP's Mindshare to handle its consolidated account after a review, the studio has confirmed. Annual ad spending on the account -- which includes Summit Entertainment, which Lionsgate acquired last year -- is more than $400 million, according to Kantar Media. In 2011 Lionsgate spent nearly $270 million on ads, while Summit spent close to $150 million, per Kantar. Incumbents on the account included Interpublic's Initiative, which has handled media duties for Lionsgate since 2006 and Mindshare, which won media chores for Summit in 2007, the year the production company was formed. …