IPG Mediabrands Shifts Three U.S. Media Specialists to Orion

NEW YORK, NY, December 19, 2012 – IPG Mediabrands, the media innovation unit of Interpublic Group (NYSE: IPG), announced today that it is moving three of its U.S. media specialty units into ORION Holdings.  NSA Media, Wahlstrom and Outdoor Advertising Group (OAG), which had previously been part of Geomentum, will now report directly to Brian McMahon, CEO of ORION Holdings. Together, these three agencies represent client billings in excess of $2 billion dollars.

“I believe in the power of these storied businesses to continue to play an increasingly important role with clients across IPG. By combining ORION’s track record for sound investment of client dollars as well as innovation in the digital space, we believe that NSA, OAG and Wahlstrom will offer unparalleled opportunities on every level,” said Brian McMahon, CEO of ORION Holdings. “Effective immediately, Steve Mueller, President, NSA Media and Debbie Lance, Executive Vice President, Managing Director, Wahlstrom will assume leadership roles at their respective organizations.”

NSA Media is the largest single buyer of newspaper, marriage mail and alternative print media in North America.  Wahlstrom is one of the largest media agencies focused on delivering measurable geo-targeted leads and a leader in a $15 billion industry. OAG is dedicated to providing marketing solutions across multiple OOH formats.

Matt Seiler, CEO of IPG Mediabrands stated, “Brian has an extraordinary track record of nurturing and growing businesses within Orion Holdings.   His team has had great success at rethinking the way we partner with media, including print, online and outdoor advertising channels and this restructuring will allow us to enhance the value we deliver for clients across these three companies.”

Steve Mueller has over 20 years of agency and client-side strategic planning and campaign activation experience. He is known for his strong and unprecedented commitment to proactive, cutting edge client service. Mueller is a dynamic personality, yielding big ideas and the knowledge, charisma, and work-ethic to command even bigger results.  Joining IPG in 1993, he has successfully leveraged his talents across numerous agency functions.

Debbie Lance has been with Wahlstrom for over 25 years and oversees the Minneapolis, Norwalk and Philadelphia offices.   She is an effective and collaborative leader who has successfully transitioned organizational disciplines to create relevant services for today’s national and local clients. Her team designs and implements print, online, pay for performance, mobile and voice search advertising programs that maximizes revenue and sales through ROI based advertising programs.  She serves on the National Marketing Division Advisory Council of the Local Search Association.

Senior leadership for OAG will be announced in the coming weeks.

About ORION Holdings

ORION Holdings, a division of IPG Mediabrands, is a global solutions-oriented collection of media companies that support and/or complement what traditional advertising agencies can offer to clients. In that spirit, the professionals within ORION Holdings are passionately-focused on providing effective financial and strategic solutions for their clients.  ORION Holdings manages $4 billion in global media billings and includes: ORION Capital (media investments), NSA Media (newspaper services), ORION Trading (barter), OAG (outdoor), ORION Printing (print management), and Wahlstrom (listing directory services).

About IPG Mediabrands

We were founded by Interpublic Group (NYSE:IPG) in 2007 to manage all of its global media related assets.  Today that means we manage and invest $35 billion in global media on the behalf of our clients, employ over 6,700 diverse and daring marketing communication specialist worldwide and operate our company businesses in more than 127 countries. A proven entity in helping clients maximize business results through integrated, intelligence-driven marketing strategies, we are a global holding company that enhances offering and performance across its network of media agencies including UM, Initiative, BPN, ORION Holdings, ID Media and its roster of specialty service agencies including MAGNA GLOBAL, Mediabrands Audience Platform (inclusive of Cadreon, Reprise Media, Ansible, Sprink Creek group), the IPG Media Lab, Ensemble and Identity. For more information, please visit www.ipgmediabrands.com.