DoubleClick Monday announced several changes in its international media structure, and made some personnel moves aimed at shoring up its underperforming Abacus unit.
The Alley-based Internet marketing giant bumped up Barry Salzman to president of global media; previously, Salzman served as president of international media operations.
Spokespeople for the company said the move will help DoubleClick land and service multinational companies and campaigns.
DoubleClick credits Salzman with its expansion into 23 countries, and the boosting of its international media operations to account for about a quarter of the company’s third-quarter revenue — about $64.3 million, 85 percent more than in the year-ago period.
Salzman will now oversee all of DoubleClick’s Media business, which includes the DoubleClick Network, DoubleClick International, the value-oriented Sonar Network, its e-mail network, and its list brokering and media planning services.
“With non-U.S. operations becoming an even more significant part of our overall business and clients taking advantage of hybrid solutions, we concluded that we could best meet the needs of our clients by consolidating our separate business divisions under global leaders,” said chief executive officer Kevin Ryan. “Today’s announcement uniquely positions DoubleClick to capitalize on market opportunities by solidifying a truly global management team.”
Wenda Harris Millard, formerly executive vice president of DoubleClick’s domestic media business, will shift into the global media unit.
DoubleClick also undertook management changes in its newest areas of business: research and data.
David Rosenblatt, who previously oversaw DoubleClick TechSolutions as senior vice president, will add DoubleClick’s Research and Data units to his responsibilities.
Rosenblatt has a string of successes with DoubleClick’s technology business. Formerly senior vice president of DoubleClick TechSolutions, Rosenblatt in 1998 launched DoubleClick’s DART for Advertisers technology business, which is the company’s fastest growing division. In addition, Rosenblatt oversaw DoubleClick TechSolution’s merger with NetGravity.
Rosenblatt will take on the operational responsibilities for the Research division, which will include media planning metrics firm @plan, which DoubleClick said it would acquire by the end of the quarter. Greg Ellis, vice president of DoubleClick’s Research unit, will report to Rosenblatt.
In addition to Research, Rosenblatt will also oversee DoubleClick’s Data business, which includes offline database marketer Abacus, which the company acquired earlier this year.
In its Data business, DoubleClick cemented Brian Rainey, who had previously served under in an interim capacity, as president. Jonathan Shapiro, senior vice president of Abacus Online, will remain in charge of the day-to-day operations of Abacus Online. Both men will report to Rosenblatt.
Rainey has been with Abacus for the past nine years, running sales and later, company operations. Before joining Abacus, Rainey was marketing director at The Sharper Image.
“Barry Salzman and David Rosenblatt have shown great strength in transforming DoubleClick into a global organization over the last several years,” Ryan said. “More and more we’re seeing clients in media and technology and data businesses asking for multiple solutions, and this organization will allow DoubleClick to more effectively service and support those relationships.”
While client demand could play a role in the announcements, the changes and additional layers of Abacus’ oversight comes soon after the company’s admission that the unit was underperforming.
Following its third-quarter earnings report, the company said that Abacus Direct failed to produce expected results in what is typically its strongest quarter. As a result, Ryan said DoubleClick has revamped Abacus’ leadership and wi
ll continue to restructure the division as it heads into the fourth quarter, which is traditionally a slower time for Abacus Direct.
DoubleClick also appointed Susan Sachatello as its first chief marketing officer. Most recently, Sachatello served as CMO and general manager at Prodigy Internet, where she transformed the business into one of the nation’s largest consumer DSL ISPs. Prior to that, Sachatello managed a variety of brands at MCI.
