

Among media executives, fear of MediaLink is real.
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If you’re an executive in their full service, MediaLink hires you, plans your parties, guides your strategy, introduces you to your friends, and then finds you your next job. Though MediaLink’s services aren’t really much different from firms like McKinsey or Bain, they inspire a sort of brand loyalty among their clients, in part because they pair consulting with a new executive search business. “They route more information around in our industry that any other single organization.”ĭawn Ostroff, president of Conde Nast Entertainment said: “Somehow they have their tentacles in every facet. “I would call them the human routers,” said AOL’s CEO Tim Armstrong, who arrived at MediaLink’s Monday and Tuesday night CES parties along with his “digital prophet,” Shingy. Kick-off party at Tryst, The Wynn Hotel MediaLink They’re the media world’s shadowy overlords, puppet masters behind almost every deal in the modern media landscape - and every viral mozzarella stick on your Facebook feed. “You will find we are much lower than most consulting firms,” Millard told me one night. Prices for their services range from the lowest end of $500,000 a year to many millions. Morgan Chase, GE, Unilever, Kraft, AT&T, the New York Times, Conde Nast and Time Inc., among others.
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Their job: To grease the wheels of communication between old media and new tech (i.e., help Conde Nast figure out how to deal with Snapchat), make introductions, headhunt for executives and advise on strategy.Īs one observer said at CES, they’re paid to introduce people to people they already know.Ĭonsider: MediaLink works for J.P. Its 80 employees set up more than 400 events and meetings (“interactions”) across CES, a weeklong festival for gadgets and, increasingly, deal makers. Run by the professional networkers Michael Kassan and Wenda Harris Millard, MediaLink’s clearest public-facing activities are its evening parties at Cannes and International CES, but the company is just as active during the day. MediaLink is a strategic advisory firm that a lot of companies use - and that almost no one understands. I sat in on the meeting, and afterward asked Darin Dugan how he would describe MediaLink, the hosts of the gathering. A vice president of Applebee’s, looking to make some viral content out of those signature mozzarella sticks, met privately in a conference suite at the Wynn hotel with half a dozen ad tech and marketing companies in Las Vegas last week.
