Behind all that brand power is back office software from Imagine Communications. When Imagine was still Harris Corp. prior to last March 17, the advertising technology was called Enterprise Agency Suite. With the rebranding, the software suite is now called Landmark Agency. It is designed to manage full service advertising agencies in this age of cross-channel media.

Though there are many competitors in the market — including MediaOcean and Strada Marketing — Cadogan Price, North American sales manager for Landmark Agency, said Imagine’s strength is the handling of multimedia usage across a range of systems and media types.

“Our users can note in the system the kind of media they are buying and where that media is located,” said Price. “Smart phones and iPad are accounted for. This creates the opportunity for clients to reach the second screen. Our system can track that.”

The Richards Group has used the Enterprise Agency Suite for 20 years and has just re-signed with Imagine to continue as a Landmark Agency client.

“As consumers increasingly engage with multiscreen content and media companies embrace new monetization models such as addressable, impression-based advertising, Imagine Communications’ solutions will be paramount as they help us manage our business and digital invoice discrepancies, helping to ensure that employee time is used effectively,” said Jim Gaither, principal of brand media at The Richards Group.

Imagine’s Landmark Agency is a set of interoperable software tools for media management, account management, creative, traffic, production and financials. Its open architecture helps customers with flexible billing and financials, as well as enhanced reporting. Through partnerships, the software offers the ability to access and leverage key industry data, enabling users to automate and improve workflow management efficiencies and improve client relationships.

The software is comprised of five modules. The Richards Group, with more than 700 employees, uses all five and hosts the system from within its company. Landmark Agency can also be hosted by Imagine. The modules help the client control all business processes, including media planning and buying, account management, creative, traffic, production, finance and digital asset management.

The modules are integrated and help coordinate local and national broadcast, print, digital signage and digital campaigns. Landmark Agency also collaborates with partner companies to provide interaction with industry data. Those partners include Facilitate Digital, CoreDirect, Spotdata and Entertainment Communications Network (ECN).

“As the demand for live programming to mobile and connected screens continues to grow, the media and entertainment markets are looking for better ways to monetize their content, which increases workflow management challenges for advertisers,” said Steve Reynolds, CTO at Imagine Communications.

“By integrating media, production and financial requirements into one system, we give our agency clients greater control and management of their entire business, in addition to cross media and client profitability reporting.”

Marc Formisano, product line management leader of Landmark Agency, said there are media management modules for local broadcast, broadcast networks, print, outdoor advertising, digital and production. There is also an agency management module for financials.

A cross-media module provides the capability to accumulate and report not only all media costs, but also metrics and creative information entered into the system. The cross-media module offers a variety of reports, as well as a report writer that allows users to slice and dice information to cater to various reporting needs.

The broadcast module provides a set of tools for managing local broadcast campaigns, including research, goals, pre-buy analysis, spot allocation, ordering, buy stewardship, commercial traffic, client accounting and cross-media reporting.

The system handles campaigns for all local broadcast media types including local television, cable and radio. The broadcast module is integrated with finance, traffic and the cross-media module, providing synergies in key functional areas.

The network module provides an extensive NTI database (NSS, cable, People Meter, NAD and NHSI). The solution also includes a HUT projection system and reports for ranking, trending and competitive analysis. Through the buying dashboard, users can customize an unlimited number of demographics by combining NAD and NSS data.

The system handles electronic import of cable network deals. An electronic data transfer component enables Spotdata network invoices to be sent directly to the database. The software provides a comprehensive set of tools for TV, cable and syndication. It allows up to 15 demographics per estimate, an online report writer and post analysis.

The online traffic allocation subsystem allows for daily, weekly or monthly scheduling and provides flexibility to issue traffic instructions in various formats. Within national traffic units, Ad-ID assignments can be done by rotation percentage, rotation pattern or audience percentage, as well as manually.