INITIATIVE MEDIA BECOMES M2 UNIVERSAL
By Adnews Staff
Initiative Media is changing its name to M2 Universal Communications Management on March 1 to formalize the company's relationship with Universal McCann, the media operations arm of McCann-Erickson. Initiative Media is the Canadian arm of Universal McCann's media operations. The say day will also see the creation of three freestanding units within the company: M2 Universal Retail, M2 Universal Online and M2 Universal Health Care. Research tools already in use through the Universal McCann system will now be available to M2 Universal. Hugh Dow heads M2 Universal as president. The company will continue to operate independently from its parent MacLaren McCann Canada Inc. M2 Universal's announcement follows Toronto-based Labatt Breweries' agency alignment with the McCann-Erickson network earlier this month. Labatt, in order to align its brand activity throughout North America with McCann-Erickson, moved its media buying account to M2 Universal, ending its long-term relationship with HYPN.