MPG teams with Cox Classic:
Annual celebration remains top-of-mind with company’s Steve Lanzano

By Jan Sneed

For nearly every year of the past 17, Steve Lanzano, Chief Operating Officer of MPG North America—a full-service global media buying and planning company—has participated in the Cox Classic. He has also served on the Steven A. Cox Foundation’s board of trustees since the day the organization was formed. His dedication to this event stems in part to his long-time commitment to helping children stricken with cancer. But in addition, Lanzano’s mother was diagnosed with breast cancer a few years back, and though she has recovered, her illness served to reinforce his investment in the important causes supported by the Cox Classic tournament.

Steve Lanzano: COO of MPG North America.

Aside from the obvious monetary benefits to charity, Lanzano has also found that the Cox Classic provides him with a valuable opportunity to build relationships with industry colleagues, clients and media representatives, as they enjoy a day out of the office serving the greater good.

In the industry that has been described as fiercely competitive and even ruthless, MPG has a well-deserved reputation for being comprised of nice people. “MPG’s sponsorship of the Cox Classic directly supports the kind of core values that are continually demonstrated by MPG’s employees,” says Lanzano. “We’ve always prided ourselves on the quality of our people: highly intelligent and very hardworking, but also kindhearted, who instinctively ‘put the other guy first,’” notes Lanzano. “In today’s competitive environment I find that the point of true differentiation frequently boils down to what I call, ‘the 98.6 factor’, in other words, relationships. A major key to success in a media service business is the quality of the relationships you have with your clients, your employees and with the media.”

Recently, Charlie Rutman—CEO of the Havis-owned MPG North America—and Lanzano were responsible for spearheading the pitch that landed MPG the Sears and Kmart businesses, the largest account wins in Havas Media’s history. It has been widely acknowledged that the primary reason the Sears Holding Company group initially approached MPG was because of prior business relationships they had with both Rutman and Lanzano.

When Rutman joined MPG in the spring of 2005, the firm had just lost a couple of their largest accounts. Rutman had a plan to ensure that they would put in place big league talent capable of producing great strategic thinking and world-class creativity. He then armed the talent with state-of-the-art systems and industry leading analytical capabilities. The plan paid off in 2006, when Rutman and Lanzano and their team quickly brought in five new accounts (Dannon, ExxonMobile, Boehringer-Ingelheim, Esurance and Pearle Vision).

Not one to let top talent go unheralded, Rutman promoted Lanzano from Managing Director of the New York operation to his current title, Chief Operating Officer of MPG North America. Of course Lanzano is now busier than ever but not so busy that he doesn’t take the time to continue to be part of the Cox Classic. As Lanzano mused recently, “if you’re going to ‘receive,’ then you’d better not forget to ‘give back’ and I can’t think of a better opportunity to do so than the Cox Classic.