Industry & Services >> CEO Interviews >> July 2, 2004
DAVID L. SMITH, President and Media Director of Mediasmith, Inc. in San
Francisco is a thirty-eight year veteran in the advertising media
management arena. Dave, a nationally known expert in the areas of new
media application, media strategy and media planning, has held media
management positions on both coasts. Trained in the major agency media
department environment, he has been in the independent media service
field since 1978 when he founded Mediasmith. Mediasmith is generally
regarded as the first media service in the nation to provide consulting
services and full service media management and planning in addition to
buying. His experience is broad, working with clients in categories
ranging from consumer goods to high tech and interactive, retail,
corporate and business-to-business. He is a pioneer in the use of
computers in media and in Interactive media. At Benton & Bowles he
provided input for and assisted in the development of the Donovan
system. He also participated in many of the early online media access
efforts from Marketron, IMS and Telmar. At Mediasmith he developed
Magsys, the company's proprietary media financial housekeeping system.
This software background provided the expertise that enabled him to play
an instrumental role in the development and successful market
introductions for StarSight Telecast, the first Interactive on-screen
television guide and I/PRO's I/Audit, the first published third party
Internet audience measurement. In 1995, he was credited for helping to
create an advertising marketplace on the Web through paying for links
the media planning process. "Much of the management emphasis in media is
placed on saving money through negotiation. While I accept the value of
these efforts, attention to the planning process can often lead to
greater rewards through the execution of a superior strategy rather than
just low cost schedules. After all, you don't advertise to save money,
you advertise to make money." He has also contributed his knowledge
through articles and interviews in an extensive range of media over the
past two decades. He is a regular speaker at Industry events including
iMedia, @d:tech and others. He writes regularly for a number of industry
publications and Web sites including MSN Advantage and MediaPost's
Online Spin. He also has a major involvement in national committee work
to establish and refine standards in metrics, business practices and
financial issues for Interactive advertising with organization such as
the AAAA's, IAB, OPA and the ARF. He currently chairs the Online Media
Council for the ARF. His advisory board involvement includes MSN,
comScore/Media Metrix, Yahoo! and others. A University of Washington
graduate, Mr. Smith is married and has a twelve-year-old son; plays
guitar; and is a gourmet Chinese cook. He is an active member of the
Board of Directors for the San Francisco Boys Chorus. You'll find him at
the office early most mornings unless he is traveling with his family. Profile
Mediasmith and give us a picture of things as they are now?
Mr. Smith: Mediasmith is a media agency. We do media planning,
