OMD launches Content Division – Content Collective.

OMD has launched a new custom media and content division, naming branded entertainment pioneer Claudia Cahill — who most recently led custom content development and production for the Pepsi Refresh Project — to drive the effort. The new unit, which has been dubbed Content Collective, is based in Los Angeles to facilitate the development of strategic alliances across the entertainment industry.

Engaging with clients at the planning level, OMD’s Content Collective delivers brand-centric content, seamlessly aligned with — and organic to — the broader marketing strategy. Designed to function as the hub linking clients to production companies, talent representation, distributors and media owners, the unit is an end-to-end resource for marketers looking to effectively use branded content to connect with consumers.

Content Collective already has more than a dozen projects in the pipeline, with Pepsi, General Electric and Nissan among the list of early adopters. In the first quarter of 2011, Content Collective will launch efforts for Tropicana, Trop50, Frappucino, Diet Pepsi and Sobe.

According to OMD US CEO Alan Cohen, Content Collective represents the next stage of innovation for an agency that has earned worldwide recognition for its breakthrough strategies and ability to leverage emerging platforms. “Content Collective has been designed to provide our clients with the ideas, resources and tools they need to build bridges between brands and content,” says OMD US CEO Alan Cohen. “Under the direction of Claudia Cahill – an accomplished producer and true innovator in marketer-created content — Content Collective allows clients to leverage the explosion of branded engagement opportunities across the scripted, reality and original content models, and traditional and digital channels, enabling marketers to connect with consumers at a different, more relevant and more effective level.”

Claudia Cahill joins OMD from Levity Entertainment Group, where she led “Medium,” the group’s branded entertainment division. In addition to collaborating with OMD and media partners like NBC Universal, ABC Unlimited, MTV Networks to develop the more than 300 segments of custom content that told the stories behind the Pepsi Refresh Project grant recipients, Cahill developed custom media programs across the Pepsi portfolio of products. She led the team that partnered with MTVN on the 2010 “Dewmocracy” campaign for Mountain Dew, and also developed and executed a creative lab for Sierra Mist designed to give emerging content creators access to Hollywood executive producers and show runners.

As she takes on the lead role at Content Collective, Cahill is keenly aware that this is a unique moment in time for the industry. “I grew up in the advertising world — take out the angst and add some heart and my dad could have been Don Draper – so I have seen the industry change countless times, but never as much, or as quickly, as it’s changing now,” says Cahill. “Media companies, entertainment companies and major brands are re-thinking and re-scoping relationships, all with the goal of engaging consumers more effectively — and content is at the epicenter of the change. It’s a situation rife with both opportunity and risk for marketers — my job is to make sure it’s the former, eliminate the latter, and set new results driven processes that can change the game.”