24/7 Real Media has hired David Hills as president of media solutions and
announced 51 client renewals.
In the new position, Hills will be responsible for all the company’s domestic media
operations, including 24/7 Web Alliance, 24/7 Search and 24/7 Messenger.
He joined 24/7 Real Media from About Inc., where he was COO and president of sales,
supervising total company revenue and operations for About’s three divisions,
including About.com and Sprinks. Prior to joining About, Hills held various positions at
Cox Enterprises, including VP of sales for Cox Interactive Media.
“Dave brings a wealth of interactive media experience to our company, in both
advertising, pay per click and subscriptions,” said David Moore, president and CEO.
In the second quarter, ended June 30, 24/7 Real Media also signed renewal agreements
with 51 Open AdStream and Open Insight customers.
The company said its retention rate with ad serving and analytics clients during the first
two quarters of 2003 was 97 percent. Among the renewing clients were Playboy,
Forbes.com and French newspaper LeMonde.
Inktomi has been tapped by Switchboard, Travelocity, Buy.com and Ziff
Davis Media for paid inclusion services.
The new customers will pay to have their sites crawled by Inktomi, a Yahoo!-owned
company, which will expand its search index to include their content.
“Inktomi’s paid inclusion programs continue to show strong momentum as advertisers
see demonstrable success,” said Vishal Makhijani, VP and general manager of Web
search at Inktomi. “We are committed to helping our partners reach a large targeted
audience while providing users with current, relevant, high-quality search results.”
The paid inclusion space remains contentious. While most top search engines offer
inclusion services, Google has refrained from doing so. The company has said the lack
of disclosure implicit in the inclusion model undermines user trust.
Integrated marketer Imagemark, formerly JH Concepts, has hired Thom Dean
as president of its new brand resources division.
Dean has held posts with several top ad agencies, including DMB&B, DDB Needham;
TBWA/Chiat Day and most recently Frankfurt Balkind (IPG), where he served as
executive director for the past seven years. He has developed and managed marketing
platforms for Crystal Light, Ultra Pampers, Absolut Vodka, Captain Morgan Spiced
Rum, Chivas Regal, Knight Ridder and AOL Time Warner.
Dean and the brand resources division will operate out of the company’s new office on
Park Avenue in New York City.
“It was essential to our fast-track growth to develop a strategic branding division in
New York, and Thom Dean is the one to lead it,” said Bruce Ross, President and CEO of
Imagemark. “His innovative approach to integrating marketing, sales promotion, and
branding has quickly expanded our client roster by offering leading edge brand
experience and fully integrated solutions.”
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