Execs and Accounts for March 14, 2003

Fort Worth-based Concussion Advertising and KMCC Interactive have teamed to form a new separate entity called Concussion Interactive. The deal calls for KMCC to be re-formed as Concussion Interactive, and to operate as a separate unit under the corporate umbrella. Kevin McConnell, the owner of KMCC, will become president of Concussion Interactive.

The company will provide Internet-related services such as online marketing planning; pay-for-placement and relevancy-based search marketing; affiliate marketing programs; banner advertising and email campaigns; and viral communications programs. The company will also offer online creative development and design services for Web sites, email, banner ads and interactive CD-ROMs.

“The online media segment has become an integral part of the marketing mix for many clients, with efficiencies and performance metrics beyond what other advertising channels can deliver,” said Allen Wallach, Concussion’s president. “It9s a dynamic medium that will continue to grow as new technologies emerge and more companies shift advertising dollars into the medium.”

McConnell has served as president of search engine tech firm Markettrix, and started the new media and Internet services group for Marketing Management. In January 2002 he launched his own company, KMCC Interactive. The growth of KMCC led to the partnership with Concussion.

Concussion is a full-service advertising, marketing and design firm based in Fort Worth, Texas. The agency has 14 professional staff members and bills approximately $4 million annually.

Agency.com has launched a Web site at QualityHealthCare.org for the Institute of Healthcare Improvement, a non-profit group. The site is designed to enable health care professionals to network with their colleagues around the globe. It contains information, analytical tools, case studies, and forums.

The site contains content areas focusing on chronic conditions, critical care, office practices, end-of-life care, leadership, HIV/AIDS and workforce development. Additionally, an online workspace will feature an Improvement Tracker tool, that lets professionals track and chart their progress in a particular area over time.

Euro RSCG Worldwide is launching the CBI Learning Lab within its New York headquarters, in an effort to facilitate and promote the development of creative business ideas. The lab is aimed at helping employees re-energize their thinking, enlist partners within other disciplines, and engage clients in brainstorming sessions.

Findings from the lab will be posted on the Euro RSCG intranet, enabling offices worldwide to benefit from the learning. The company hopes to add interactivity to the site, so that employees will be able to participate in real-time, whatever their location.

“For the past few years, developing creative business ideas (CBIs) has been Euro RSCG’s central focus and main point of differentiation,” said Bob Schmetterer, chairman and CEO. “Our value as advertisers lies not in any one discipline, but in generating innovative solutions to business problems. Yet all too often our industry is constrained by limited thinking-by safe answers to problems that require much more.”