Jon Mandel Joins VNU as CEO of NielsenConnect
Friday, 01 December 2006
Jon Mandel, one of Madison Avenue's most influential and well known media-buying executives, has joined VNU, the global information and media company, as chief executive officer of NielsenConnect, a newly formed business unit.
The announcement was made Tuesday by David L. Calhoun, chairman and chief executive officer of VNU, to whom Mandel will report. Mandel will be based in VNU's US headquarters in New York.
Mandel joins VNU from Group M, one of the world's largest media communications companies, where he was chief of strategic solutions. Prior to his corporate role at Group M, Mandel was chairman of MediaCom US, a Group M company. MediaCom plans and implements more than $12 billion a year of its advertising clients media spend.
"We are proud and delighted to welcome Jon to the VNU leadership team," said Calhoun. "Jon's knowledge, experience and enthusiasm are vital to our goal of taking this company to a whole new level of client service. His mission is to 'follow the consumer.' That means connecting all of the different information resources across VNU so our clients benefit from clear, actionable information they need to grow their businesses."
"NielsenConnect is about looking forward, and anticipating what's coming next," said Mandel. "It's about connecting consumer information in ways that have never been attempted so our clients can spot trends and move more quickly to maximize their relationships with their customers. I look forward to this exciting challenge."
Continued Calhoun: "As the creation of this new business indicates, we are extending the world famous Nielsen brand across all elements of VNU to connect our information and intelligence-gathering capabilities for the benefit of clients. This is an important step in that process."
NielsenConnect, a new business unit, will draw information from the dozens of VNU companies that collect, analyze, and report on consumer patterns and usage around the world. VNU's assets represent the premiere suite of media and marketing information which includes consumer purchase information, store data, modeling assets, geo-demographic data, television ratings, outdoor ratings, as well as movie, book, video and radio data.
A graduate of Vassar College, Mandel joined Grey Advertising in 1974 working in various media planning positions on General Foods and Procter & Gamble.
In 1977, he helped start the network television buying group at Grey. When MediaCom was formed in the United States, Mandel was senior vice president/director of National Broadcast at Grey and he was named chief negotiating officer of MediaCom.
Over the years building MediaCom, Jon Mandel advised many accounts in various roles including co-managing director, chief negotiation officer, co-CEO, co-CEO of MediaCom Latino, chief global buying officer of MediaCom Worldwide, in addition to his role as chairman of MediaCom US.
Mandel has helped clients plan, implement and manage hundreds of billions of dollars in marketing spend in virtually all industries. The several hundred clients who have worked with Mandel include Volkswagen/Audi, Hasbro, Staples, Subway, GlaxoSmithKline, Nokia, and Royal Bank of Scotland, Playtex, Cendent, Panasonic, SlimFast and Warner Bros.
Mandel is the only media professional to have served as a member of the Board of Directors of the American Association of Advertising Agencies. He has also been on the AAAA Media Policy Council and the chair of the organization's Television Committee. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the International Radio and Television Society. He was the first advertising professional to serve as chairman of the National Association of Television Programming Executives, and has worked closely with several industry councils, often as the sole agency representative.
Jon Mandel lives in Manhattan where he serves as a director of the John A. Reisenbach Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality of life in New York City communities. He also sits on the Board of the NY Chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.
Mandel serves with the Kismet Fire Department on Fire Island.