MediaLink has also become a power in the world of agency reviews. One former MediaLink executive said the company’s fees were the typical 25 percent of the first-year salary. It also creates a consistent source of revenue, since retainers ensure MediaLink gets a cut of placed execs’ salaries for at least a year. Recruiting, where the firm competes against big talent firms to place high-level execs in jobs, is now the engine of MediaLink, accounting for roughly 13-15 percent of its $54 million annual revenue, according to Kassan’s estimate. “Let’s do a project with this agency - oh, they liked it nobody else was upset - it allowed them to ease into the idea of being able to operate across the industry.” “Over time, they started dipping their toes in the water ,” said a former MediaLink exec. Two of the newer business lines include recruiting and agency reviews. Today, MediaLink’s services include its consulting and business management services, executive search, mergers and acquisitions strategy, and agency reviews. MediaLink could set that relationship up.Īs MediaLink identified other opportunities in marketing - sales and marketing execs constantly changing jobs and marketers looking to review their agency contracts to keep up with industry trends - it gradually built relationships with people and companies worth being connected to. So, for instance, a head of sales for an East Coast brand may not know someone in entertainment. And as the relationships between industries grew, people realized they didn’t have the personal relationships they needed. MediaLink was able to step into the void by hiring people who had worked inside brands, so they knew what they needed. But it’s widened its scope to focus more on where the money is: brand marketers. As digital advertising grew, said one former employee, there wasn’t enough great sales talent. MediaLink, now with 140 employees, has played a classic middleman role. We’ve had the good fortune of being at the epicenter of all of that.” “All of the changes that were occurring in the publisher-marketer relationship, the tech-client relationship and then the agency-client relationship turned out to be our friend. “The marketplace created the demand ,” said Kassan. With the hire of former top Yahoo sales exec Millard in 2009 as president and chief operating officer, MediaLink boasted a formidable Rolodex. Kassan himself was key, the perpetual presence at industry events, everyone’s best friend. At the start, that was an important role.” “Even if it was limited to his client set, it was an important filter because there were so many new entrants seemingly every day. “In a world where there is so much change going on in terms of new entrants and ad technologies, Michael built a curated vehicle by which important media and advertising executives could get some filter - someone to provide context for them with respect to which companies to meet,” said Keith Richman, president of Defy Media, a former MediaLink client. In Kassan’s telling, MediaLink became the “membrane” of the industry. If someone could make sense of it all, media companies - and later, advertisers - would be willing to pay. In the decade that followed, MediaLink was able to take advantage of an increasingly complex market with all the new digital media sellers looking to knock down doors and pull in as many brand dollars as they could. Kassan, a former ad exec with his share of controversies in his past career, was connected throughout the media, entertainment and tech industries. Kassan launched MediaLink in 2003 as a small shop that was focused on consulting to media companies. This account is based on interviews with over 20 industry executives, both former and current clients of MediaLink, and current and former employees of the firm. As the industry changes yet again, MediaLink, too, is changing as it seeks to retain its role as the power broker. Its business model is to put itself at the center of an industry in flux and take a piece of the action from many, if not quite all, sides. MediaLink’s pivotal role at Cannes - a Vox Media dinner tonight will begin with a toast to Kassan and partner Wenda Harris Millard - is a great window into what the company does, which, at its essence, is transacting on relationships. Throughout the week, MediaLink will be hard to avoid. MediaLink’s banner - featuring its tagline “We turn potential into practice” - is prominently displayed on the Carlton Hotel, the epicenter of the media, marketing and tech world’s annual networking fest. During Cannes alone, MediaLink says it will set up 800 meetings for clients. In an industry still based around connections, MediaLink has built a tidy business being the foremost broker.
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