Interview: Matt Spiegel, CEO, OMG Digital: Expanding The Agency's Interactive Lexicon

This story was written by David Kaplan.

As he explained in an interview with paidContent a few days after his April 1 start date, search is where agency clients have been putting a significant portion of their online ad dollars. And the skill to apply data directly to media buying strategies across the board has become a more crucial way for agencies to differentiate themselves the last few years. Spiegel also touched on some of his priorities as he succeeds Sean Finnegan at the helm of Omnicom Group's in-house interactive media shop. Spiegel isn't certain when the process began for him to move from Resolution, which he founded in 2003 and sold to Omnicom two years later. But the 32-year-old agency exec is certain that he's ready. More after the jump.

-- Expanding the lexicon: "I've been in the digital media space since about 1997 and have been both a buyer and a seller of all forms digital media. Obviously, my last couple of years have been search focused. But search and analytics will be a key piece of what we'll be doing. That's not necessarily because of my experience, but because that's what clients are very interested in. Search is a very hot topic in terms of the media landscape, getting as much as 40-plus percent on average of marketers' online media budgets. It's crucial to have a solid search solution.... analytics folds into that as well. And that doesn't just have to mean direct response data. It's making sure that decisions in media and marketing have the ability to use data in general. That process is going to clearly impact search, but it's also going to impact the broader digital conversation. And in furthering the conversation, my job is making sure digital techniques and knowledge become part of the lexicon of the agency as a whole. "

-- Supporting role: "OMG in itself, is very much like Omnicom, it isn't a client-basing brand; it's a support-structure brand. OMG Digital will be selling to clients. That's an important distinction about this unit. Its strengths have to do with the relationships it has with the agencies. The function of my job is to make their jobs easier and better and to make sure we're offering the best service and vision for our clients. We know that as our clients invest more in digital, we have to work to provide direction in terms of where those investments should go. What OMG Digital does is to guide the agencies in that way as well. That involves paving the way for innovation, doing research and staying ahead of trends. Secondly, we have to take care of the structural things that need to get done. The third key piece that I focus on is training people and working on their development to create the next level of digital leaders at the agencies within Omnicom."

By David Kaplan