Los Angeles — In an attempt to spread its wings beyond 140 character texts, popular micro-blogging outfit Twitter is signaling to agencies that it has fully grown up and ready to service them the way the likes of Google and AOL do. The company has lured away another Google executive Matt Derella as its new director of agency business development, in a move that will allow the service to build better relationships with companies interested in using it to develop campaigns.
AdAge is reporting that the company has hired a new director of agency business development, former Google exec Matt Derella, who oversaw the search engine’s relationship with Publicis, one of the world’s top holding companies by revenue. At Twitter, Derella will be responsible for establishing relationships at other ad holding companies.
Going forward, Derella confirmed on his Twitter account, stating: “Thrilled to join the Flock today! Excited to collaborate with innovative agencies to build world-class partnerships.” Derella’s move was first reported by AdAge Monday.
For many years, people have been wondering how Twitter will monetize its service. But as a younger company with only modest revenue (eMarketer projects a $288 million haul this year), Twitter is approaching agencies from a different perspective than Google did; it is looking to adland to help build its business from the ground up.
“Twitter understands that agencies are going to be a really important part of the Twitter advertising ecosystem, and they understand that we need to invest in our agency partners,” AdAge quoted Derella as saying.
In addition, Derella intends to devote his first months on the job meeting with agency CEOs and chief creative officers for whom “it is hard … to find the time to make in-depth study and understand how to harness the best of Twitter,” he said. But one challenge he may face is convincing ad executives that Twitter is a platform they need to invest in, rather than a place to experiment. That view was espoused during Advertising Week, at a panel dubbed “Agency CEOs on Tech,” where Greg Stern of Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners said, “It remains to be seen if Twitter can be a marketing platform. It is democratized journalism.”
He further added saying, “If there are agencies out there who are unsure about Twitter, part of my job will be to understand what those concerns are and hopefully dig out some facts and some case studies and some examples for why we believe it is an amazing platform for brands to connect with consumers.”
Derella will be based out of New York and hold responsibility for working with developing relationships with holding companies, much like he did at Google and will essentially be building Twitter’s business from the ground up. As for other markets he will focus on, he mentioned Japan as one that is “very interesting.” He will report to Joel Lunenfeld, Twitter’s VP of global brand strategies, and former CEO of the digital agency Moxie Interactive.
While he asserts that their roles are complementary, Derella emphasized that he will be squarely focused on agencies, educating them about the ever-evolving platform and ad products, and addressing problems they have, while Lunenfeld works directly with brands as well as agencies and focuses on campaign strategy. Sales to agencies is still the domain of Chief Revenue Officer Adam Bain’s team.
Lastly, with Derella’s addition, Twitter will eventually be able to put itself on the map as a company that has tremendous potential just like Google or AOL has. It has actively put itself out there as a place to discover new things and has developed campaigns centered around the MLB playoffs, the presidential debates, the NFL, and more.