A 20-year+ veteran of the advertising and media business, Tim is best known for his proactive leadership role in integrated media. A self-described “Media Activist” as Underscore’s CEO, he is responsible for all aspects of business development and account service. Tim has planned media and serviced over 150 B2C and B2B brands during his career, such as McDonald’s, Anheuser-Busch, Intel, MCI, Nike, Starbucks, British Airways, General Motors, Isuzu, American Airlines, Warner Bros., Procter and Gamble, General Foods, Philip Morris, JC Penney, Exxon-Mobil, AOL, State Farm, Citicorp, Range Rover, International Playtex, Hershey’s, Olympus Camera, Continental Airlines, Hewlett Packard and American Express, among others. Before launching Underscore Marketing LLC in May 2002, McHale also had stints at other well-known advertising service firms, such as Tribal DDB, Agency.com, Blue Marble ACG Wells Rich Greene, Levine Huntley, and SFM Media. He began his career at Ogilvy & Mather as an intern in 1978.

The combination of Tim’s experience and proactive approach to media makes him a natural leader in the space. At Tribal DDB, as Chief Media Officer, he launched Tribal Connections, a global interactive CRM and strategy group. Before Joining DDB, he was EVP, Director of Strategic Planning and Development at i-Traffic, a division of Agency.com (also Omnicom), heading up business development. Tim has been involved with business development since 1985, assisting various team leaders at different firms. He took over as a senior business development person at SFM Media in 1996 and has contributed significantly in this area, with every firm since then. He is on the advisory boards of several companies, including Silicon Alley Reporter, Emerging Interest and Atlas DMT. He’s also served on several AAAA Committees over the years, most recently on the ITV and Interactive Media Committees. McHale is currently co-chairing an iMedia Connections industry committee on the role of Reach/Frequency and GRPs in online media and cross-media promotion, in association with the IAB and the ARF. In 2002, McHale was designated an IAB Fellow, based on his contributions to the interactive media business.

He currently writes weekly columns for Mediapost.com and for iMedia Communications and has contributed many articles over the years on business development and media issues in such publications as Adweek Online, Brandweek, Inside Media, ClickZ, and Media Life Magazine among others, where most recently he interviewed Mr. Stuart Elliott, Advertising Columnist of The New York Times. McHale is widely quoted and has provided insight on the advertising business for such publications as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Weekly Standard, Adweek and Advertising Age. Tim’s editorial contributions are designed in part to help spark interest among the marketing community for business development purposes. He is an alumnus of Baruch College in New York and was profiled in their 25th Anniversary publication for his work in the advertising business. He has been co-teaching a course titled “All About Advertising” at the New School for Social Research in Greenwich Village since 1997, with Kurt Brokaw, a friend and fellow advertising veteran. McHale lives with his wife, Wendy (a senior publishing executive with Conde Nast) and their two daughters in New Jersey.

Summits Attended

iMedia Brand Summit

iMedia Brand Summit

iMedia Other Summit

iMedia Summit

iMedia Brand Summit

iMedia Brand Summit Fall

iMedia Other Summit

iMedia Fall Summit

iMedia Other Summit

iMedia Summit Spring

iMedia Other Summit

iMedia Summit Fall

My Articles

PreClicktions 2004

| Tim McHale

The President of Madison Avenue Consultants (MadAveCon) gives his thoughts on what market segments will be hot, and who will merge with whom.

Technology Cos. Embrace Web Technology

| Tim McHale

Technology companies were among the first to advertise on the Web, and today represent one of four categories making up 75% of all online advertising. Here’s why, and what’s ahead.

Consider Viral Marketing

| Tim McHale

With viral marketing, consumers bear part of the cost of propagating a marketing message. But the message must provide value, be cool and avoid reading like an ad.