He viewed UTA’s ability to connect Medialink with culture and content as an unparalleled advantage in the marketplace.
He also praised the internal culture at UTA, saying “I’ve never been in a culture that’s more inviting, that’s more welcoming and more strategic.”
Kassan had a reputation for being one of the industry’s most prolific networkers, continually wining and dining clients and maintaining a high profile, always up for emceeing industry events featuring executives and celebrities. That reputation for entertainment did not deter UTA from purchasing the business, according to its suit against Kassan.
“In order to secure UTA’s investment, Kassan presented himself as a trustworthy businessman, who had operated within the stringent controls and regulations of a publicly traded company. That turned out not to be the case,” according to the suit.
But Kassan and UTA’s leadership clashed over not just the expense budget but the formation of UTA’s Brand Partnerships arm, according to a source familiar with MediaLink. The source told ADWEEK that Kassan believed the new division could bridge UTA and MediaLink. He had expected that it would report to him to create some connective tissue with MediaLink; however, that never transpired.
This is alluded to within Kassan’s action: “Respondents engaged in a deliberate secret scheme to fraudulently induce Kassan to agree to a sale of MediaLink only to then walk back the very promises made in the purchase contract, specifically regarding what Kassan would oversee at UTA and his ‘Special Expenses.”
The days of gifting are over
Another intermediary executive who wishes to remain anonymous told ADWEEK that the days of extravagant client entertainment were gone, as fees had become much tighter in recent years and corporate transparency had become stricter.
Multiple ad agency execs, who requested anonymity because of preexisting relationships with MediaLink, agreed with that assertion, saying that clients are increasingly turned off by exorbitant spending. They said ad agencies over the past few decades have faced a similar reckoning as clients (and their procurement teams) don’t want to see their marketing dollars funding gifts and private flights.
In other words—Kassan’s strategy was one that was already falling out of favor even before he and UTA began trading accusations over the use of the $1.5 million expense fund.
Is Kassan bigger than MediaLink?
Nearly a half dozen ad agency execs and search consultants who spoke with ADWEEK expressed similar sentiments of “Michael Kassan is MediaLink” and “MediaLink is Michael Kassan.”
But multiple sources said MediaLink has built out an infrastructure that could survive Kassan’s departure, with several sources calling out three current executies—Lena Petersen, chief brand officer and managing director; Mark Wagman, managing director; and Emma Gryce, chief financial officer—as critically important to MediaLink’s future success.
One agency source described MediaLink as the strongest offering in the business for marketing transformation at the moment, and that’s largely in part not because of Kassan but the team now around him—an assertion echoed by multiple ad execs who have been invited to a number of MediaLink reviews.