Following the signing of media veteran Stephen Tapp as agency CEO this summer, Toronto-based marketing agency Empirical has been rebranded as Mash Media.

The agency will move forward with a focus on new-media executions – such as location-based marketing and social media – integrated with traditional marketing tactics in the cross-platform space. Tapp will helm the agency under its new moniker, adding marketing to his long list of career accomplishments, which include president and COO of XM Satellite Radio Canada and EVP TV at CHUM.

The agency has beefed up its measurement, analytic and mobile partnerships, as well as adding mobile and video production talent to its staff and training its account execs to be specialists in multi-platform marketing, Tapp tells MiC. In addition to its work with clients such as Ford, Teva-Novopharm and Rogers, the agency will be looking to expand its client base in ‘retail, customer-focused and dealer-based businesses,’ he explains.

‘We believe that there is a huge opportunity in providing strategic and ROI-focused integrated solutions for our clients. There is tremendous ‘brand fear’ prevailing today. Brands that know they need to be in the social game and fear that they will be left behind. The progressive ones are realizing that it’s a different world with so much more in it if you get it right.’

When asked what the most exciting opportunities for marketers today are compared to when he started working in media, Tapp says technology-enabled value-add for the consumer, the new world of content publishing and the empowered consumer top the list.

‘The old windows for content and the ‘orderly marketplace’ for rights syndication has changed from single or dual platforms of distribution to fully accessible, 24/7, wherever-you-are channels for both the distributor and the consumer. I’m really excited to see how fast publishers and distributors are getting it. I’m also excited by the world of online and mobile video; this year feels like it’s the year.’