Ailing social media site MySpace has hired Media Link, a media and entertainment consulting company, to overhaul its advertising and sales strategy. The deal, first reported in The Wall St. Journal, (the paper and the social site are both owned by News Corp.) calls for Media Link’s president Wenda Harris Millard to manage MySpace’s day-to-day sales organization on an interim basis, according to an internal memo from Owen Van Natta, CEO of the social site.
Meanwhile, Jeff Berman, who had been president, sales and marketing at MySpace, has left the company. The memo said he “has decided to explore other opportunities.” He had been with MySpace for three years.
Millard is a well-known executive in the media and Internet space. She held top executive sales posts at Ziff Davis, Yahoo and Martha Steward Living Omnimedia, before joining Media Link as president.
Van Natta explained in the memo, “MySpace has always been a leader in the social media advertising space. Maintaining that leadership position requires that we foster the perfect balance between content and commerce.” He said that will be accomplished by partnering with Media Link. In addition to bringing in Millard, MySpace said Media Link will be tasked with providing “guidance as we reconfigure our ad products to meet the current needs of the marketplace.”
