Omnicom Media Group Reveals Details on Third Network

NEW YORK, April 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/. Omnicom Media Group, the media services division of Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE: OMC) today announced the launch of its third agency network, Hearts & Science.

Hearts & Science has been inspired by marketers seeking business advantage in a world of personalized digital marketing, where CRM (Customer Relationship Management) and addressable channels converge, and decisions must be made in real time to aggregate effective reach and deliver the right message at the right time. Designed to inform brand strategies with real-time insights, Hearts & Science is a data-driven marketing agency with expert media planning and buying capabilities, among other services that include shopper marketing, marketing innovation and content activation.

"With the addition of Hearts & Science, Omnicom Media Group has three distinct agency brands all focused on driving client business results," says Daryl Simm, CEO, Omnicom Media Group. "OMD is the world's largest and most creatively awarded media agency; PHD is the global leader in communications planning; Hearts & Science will be highly focused on data driven marketing. All three agency networks benefit from the full scale of Omnicom Media Group's activation and buying resources and our industry-leading Annalect data and analytics platform."

Hearts & Science opens its North America based operation this month with Procter & Gamble as its inaugural client, and Scott Hagedorn as its CEO.

Hagedorn takes the helm at Hearts & Science following five years as the founding CEO of Annalect. While leading the effort to integrate data across multiple Omnicom network agencies, Hagedorn began crafting the vision for Hearts & Science, an enterprise that he describes as "the nexus between marketing science and consumer connections."

"As data-driven marketing and applied audience analytics in mass media have gone from a fringe to a core practice, the industry can't lose sight of content's role in creating connections between brands and consumers," Hagedorn says. "Hearts & Science has been designed to protect the balance and leverage the connections between information and emotion, combining data-driven planning and buying practices with orchestrated content creation, delivery and optimization across all touch points."

At Annalect, Hagedorn will be succeeded by Slavi Samardzija as global CEO and Erin Matts as North American CEO. Samardzija and Matts move into their new roles from their former positions as Annalect's Chief Analytics Officer and Chief Marketing Officer, respectively.

According to Hearts & Science Chief Operating Officer Kathleen Brookbanks, who joins the new agency from sister shop OMD, the agency will open its 7 World Trade Center facility with a staff of 175, a number that is expected to top 300 by the beginning of Q3; Additional offices will open starting shortly with Canada and Puerto Rico, followed by a number of key markets outside of North America in the second half of 2016. Additional executive hires, recruited from leading companies across the technology, publishing and agency industries, will be announced in the coming weeks.

About Omnicom Media Group

Omnicom Media Group (OMG) is the media services division of Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE: OMC), the leading global advertising, marketing and corporate communications company, providing services to over 5,000 clients in more than 100 countries. Omnicom Media Group includes the full service networks OMD, PHD and Hearts & Science; the Annalect global data and analytics platform; the Accuen global programmatic buying platform; global performance marketing agency Resolution Media; as well as a number of specialty media communications companies.