CHICAGO - Say goodbye to Harris & Baseview and hello to MediaSpan. While you’re at it, say hello to the company’s front man, Chief Executive Officer F.R. (Frank) Campagnoni, who is also overseeing MediaSpan’s Media Software unit following the March resignation of that unit’s former CEO, Briggs Kilborne.

Although its former namesake, Harris & Baseview, has been under the MediaSpan umbrella for some four years, the official name change took place only recently, upon contractual expiration of the company’s use of the Harris moniker.

Mark Zagorski, chief marketing officer and Frank Campagnoni, the new chief executive officer of MediaSpan Media Software introduced themselves to the newspaper industry at Nexpo. Although the Harris & Baseview name is gone, MediaSpan will retain the Baseview brand name for many of its key products.
Photo: Tara McMeekin
 

Now, said Campagnoni and Chief Marketing Officer Mark Zagorski, MediaSpan is ready to move forward with emphasis on the local media market and online services.

“We can provide newspapers with a very powerful set of software and services,” Campagnoni said.

The newly branded unit will offer product lines that integrate print, online and wireless for publishers

“Solutions now need to deliver to multiple outlets,” he said.

Claiming the largest local online media network, MediaSpan sees a benefit to aggregating local media, and the need to offer newspapers an avenue to compete for that local market.

“We see an opportunity to be the glue that brings those local products together,” Zagorski said. “That’s what this is about.”

For example, Zagorski said MediaSpan sees a lot of interest in classifieds by its 1,600 radio customers.

“Local media has a great asset and they can’t let the Googles and Yahoos steamroll them,” he said.

With MediaSpan, publishers can monetize products with national advertisers, the executives said.

“Whether it is a local newspaper, radio or television station... the goal is still the same: to help them deliver their content to anyone, anywhere, at any time and to generate more money for them while doing so,” Campagnoni said.

Bringing all of its business units under one unified brand name will help.

“This is a proactive move to what is going on the industry,” Zagorski said.

Forthcoming products include version 4.0 of Production ManagerPro, the company’s ad tracking and asset management software for Mac and PC, as well as new wireless apps for newspapers that enable content delivery to mobile devices and new national ad program opportunities for online publishers. The company said it will retain the Baseview brand name for many of its key products.

Headquartered in Research Triangle Park, N.C., MediaSpan has offices in Ann Arbor, Mich., Melbourne, Fla., New York City and San Clemente, Calif.