Former MTV president Rosenthal takes on global role at Interpublic's ailing media businesses

by Staff, Brand Republic 13-May-05, 08:55

NEW YORK - Interpublic has named former MTV executive Mark Rosenthal to head group media operations, just days after the company saw one of its biggest media clients, General Motors, shift its $3.2bn account into Publicis Groupe.

Rosenthal was president and chief operating officer of MTV for 10 years before quitting the company last year.

At Interpublic, he will be charged with overseeing the worldwide media operations, which comprise Initiative, Universal McCann and Magna Global.

His appointment comes two months after Interpublic revealed it was restructuring its media business and looking for three senior executives after the departure of Initiative's worldwide chairman, Marie-Jose Forissier, along with that of Robin Kent, who was chief executive of Universal McCann.

As well as this week's loss of the General Motors account to Starcom MediaVest, Interpublic is also suffering from the loss of Nestle and Unilever work last year. On top of these problems, Interpublic is yet to file its final results for 2004, and is in the middle of reviewing its financial statements.

Michael Roth, chairman and chief executive of Interpublic, said: "We were looking for someone with Mark's breadth of experience, as both a top-notch executive and practitioner. Someone who understands the changing media landscape and can bring a unique perspective that will knit together all of our media assets, which is not something we have done previously."

Before being made chief operating officer at MTV in 1996, Rosenthal worked in various roles in sales and marketing at MTV Networks and its predecessor company Warner Amex Satellite Entertainment, which he joined in 1982.

"While there is a great deal that needs to be done operationally to bring Interpublic's media assets together, I am confident we will now be able to offer a distinctive and coordinated set of capabilities to our clients," Rosenthal said.

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