Industry Moves: Tribal DDB CEO Freeman Steps Down To Head Up GoFish
This story was written by David Kaplan.
Matt Freeman has left his post as CEO of Omnicom digital shop Tribal DDB to lead kids-focused online media company GoFish, AdAge reports. Freeman, who has been credited with transforming Tribal DDB from an unfocused, digital support system for Omnicom's agencies, into a focused, globally respected agency in its own rightand a 40 percent annual growth rate. The loss of such a high profile exec such as Freeman is quite a blow to Omnicom. In January, Sean Finnegan exited six months after being named CEO of Omnicom's in-house interactive shop OMG Digital for the job of chief media officer of in-text advertising start-up Vibrant Media.
-- Tribal DDB exec shifts: Paul Gunning, the president of Tribal DDB East, has been tapped as Freeman's successor. He's been with the agency since 2000. Gunning officially take on the worldwide CEO role when Freeman leaves at the end of the month. Liz Ross, current president of Tribal DDB West, is being moved up to president of U.S. operations; she'll also take on the new title of global chief marketing officer.
-- Filling the branding niche: Freeman tells AdAge that OTCBB-traded GoFish (OTCBB: GOFH) can own the online brand advertising space, given that companies like Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) and Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) are primarily focused on challenging Google (NSDQ: GOOG) on search. And just what does GoFish possess that makes them well-positioned? Freeman claims that time spent on GoFish is fairly high, indicating strong degrees of engagement. Secondly, he cites the decline of portals and the rise of vertical sites.
By David Kaplan